New Delhi: A traders’ association in coastal Karnataka has urged district authorities to allow Muslim vendors to participate in temple fairs during the upcoming festive season of Dasara.Last year, many shrines had banned Muslim vendors from these fairs at the behest of Sangh parivar groups. The Dakshina Kannada and Udupi Districts Religious Fair Businessmen’s Coordination Committee, which includes members from various religious backgrounds, is making this appeal, the Telegraph reported.The committee has complained that Muslim vendors have been banned even from the government-run Mangaladevi Temple in Mangalore, Dakshina Kannada.It added that several shrines had banned Muslims from bidding for stalls even in public spaces near the temples ahead of religious festivals in summer last year and later during Dasara.The Mangaladevi Temple’s management recently decided not to allot stalls to Muslim traders even on the street opposite the shrine. “We never faced such a ban until last year when some Hindu organisations objected to Muslim vendors setting up temporary stalls at temple fairs,” committee convener B.K. Imthiyaz told the Telegraph on Saturday.“But we are now seeking permission (from district authorities in Dakshina Kannada and Udupi) to conduct our business, which is our livelihood.”Imthiyaz underscored that Muslims were not seeking permission to run stalls inside temple premises. “All we are asking is for permission to open stalls on public roads that come under the city civic body and not the temples,” he told the daily.The ban on Muslim vendors participating in temple fairs in Karnataka started during the height of the hijab controversy in the state, which was under the Bharatiya Janata Party at the time.Hindu organisations framed the ban as a response to the shutdown enforced by Muslim groups in protest against a Karnataka high court order that upheld the ban on wearing hijabs in schools and colleges.The BJP government at the time used the Hindu Religious Institutions and Charitable Endowments Rules, established in 2002, to justify the prohibition, arguing that non-Hindus were not permitted to engage in any business within temple premises.The traders’ association, representing various communities, expressed concern over the significant losses suffered by Muslim vendors due to last year’s bans on their participation in temple fairs.In Dakshina Kannada district, about half of the vendors were Muslim, according to Imthiyaz.“Our body is not limited to the interests of Muslims. Our president is Jain, and there are Hindus and Christians among us who are seeking equal rights in the bidding process for stalls at temple fairs and festivals,” he told the newspaper.