Banu Mushtaq inaugurating Dasara is right decision: CM

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Monday strongly defended his government's decision to invite International Booker Prize winner writer Banu Mushtaq to inaugurate Mysuru Dasara, and said majority people of the state have accepted it, and it has brought respect for the state.

- NT Correspondent

He said Dasara is not a festival of any one religion or caste, it is a festival of all. It is "Nada Habba’ (state festival), the festival of the people.

The famous ll-day Dasara celebrations commenced in this city of palaces on Monday amid religious and traditional fervour, with Mushtaq inaugurating it.

The inauguration took place amid controversy, with objections from some sections against the government's decision to invite Mushtaq.