Baba Budangiri belongs only to Hindus; Muslim rituals should be banned: Bajrang Dal

Mangaluru, Dec 10: Claiming that Baba Budangiri belongs to only to Hindus, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Bajrang Dal have demanded an end to Muslim rituals in the pilgrimage site of Chikkamagaluru district.

Addressing a press conference in the city today, the local leaders of Bajrang Dal, urged the state government to take appropriate steps to shift Muslim graves of from the disputed area to Nagenahalli and ban all kinds of rituals of Muslims at the Datta Peetha.

They also urged the government to appoint a full-time Hindu priest to the Datta Peetha cave temple and approve holding trikala pooja. Datta Peetha should be declared as a holy place for Hindus, they said.

50 thousand devotees

Sunil K R, Regional Convener of Bajrang Dal, said that Datta-maala abhiyan will be held from December 12 to 21 this year as part of Datta Jayanti to be held on December 22 at Sri Guru Inam Dattatreya Bababudangiri Swamy Dargah.

He said as many as 50 thousand data-maala-dhaaris from across the state would take part in the event. Among them at least 15 thousand devotees would be from Mangaluru division, comprising of Dakshina Kannada, Udupi, Kodagu and Kasaragod districts.

He said VHP and Bajragn Dal would organize Anusooya puja, Ganapathi homa, and Durga homa at Datta Peeta on December 20. The next day, a massive rally would be held in the city of Chikkamagaluru. Datta Jayanti will be observed at Datta Peetha on December 22 and the devotees will have the darshan of Datta Paduke.

Bajrang Dal leaders Murali Hasntadka, Bhujanga Kulal, Praveen Kuttar, Naveen Moodushedde and Puneet Attavar were present among others.