Screen grab of Bajrang dal workers in Bengaluru asking Hindus not to buy meat from Muslim vendors.

 By Veena Nair  / The Siasat Daily

The Neelamangala Ugadi fair in Bengaluru saw various workers of the Bajrang Dal flocking around Hindu vendors asking them not to buy meat from Muslim vendors.

A protest has been printed in Kannada asking Hindus not to do any business with Muslim vendors during Ugadi.

Reacting to this, opposition leader K D Kumaraswamy said that this is just an excuse while the main agenda is to completely stop trading with Muslims in the state.

Islamophobia has been rampant in Karnataka with the hijab ban and Muslims unable to do business in temple fairs and festivals.

Recently a member of the Hindu Jana Jagruti, Mohan Gowda, called for boycotting all halal products in the country.

In another episode, Muslims were harassed in Karantaka by Hindutva goons in the Kodagu district on Friday. They forced Muslim vendors to shut down fruit and juice stalls set up at the premises of the venue where a state-level agricultural programme was scheduled to take place.

Several saffron scarves clad Bajrang Dal goons in Shaniwarpet forced Muslim traders to empty the premises of the venue where a state-level programme related to agriculture and domestic cows was scheduled to take place in Manehalli village.

In no respite to the ongoing Islamophobia, the government is taking a cold stand on the issue. Recently, Karnataka Secondary and Higher Education minister BC Nagesh on March 23  justified the anti-Muslim posters put up in Shivamogga.

“Everything has an equal and opposite reaction. Those people tried to oppose the law of the land and this is a reaction to it. Someone had a communal agenda and two months ago nobody had thought that the high court would pass an order against it and that Muslims would call for a statewide bandh over the court’s ban on the issue,” he had said.

This article first appeared on siasat.com