Mysore/Mysuru:  Following Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s announcement that International Booker Prize-winning author Banu Mushtaq would inaugurate this year’s Mysuru Dasara festival, a video of her 2023 address at the ‘Jana Sahitya Sammelana’ in Bengaluru has resurfaced and gone viral on social media.

In the clip, Mushtaq is heard saying, “You’ve smeared turmeric and vermilion on Kannada and turned it into Bhuvaneshwari with a red and yellow flag. Where am I supposed to stand now? What should I see? How should I be involved? The conspiracy to oust me hasn’t begun today — it’s been unfolding for a long time.”

The statement, drawn from a deeply personal account, reflecting her sense of linguistic and cultural marginalisation, has triggered sharp criticism now.

Banu’s perspective

At the ‘Jana Sahitya Sammelana,’ Mushtaq was addressing Kannada Development Authority (KDA) Chairman Purushothama Bilimale about Kannada language, its literature and cultural identity.

Offering her perspective as a woman from a minority community, she had said: “Whether you find it agreeable or uncomfortable, I do not know. But I must say this — when it comes to nurturing Kannada as a language, when it comes to me speaking it, or my family speaking it, you have never truly given us the space.”

She continued: “You turned Kannada into Bhuvaneshwari, pulled the chariot of Kannada, held Kannada festivals and formed Kannada Parishats — what have you truly done? To oust me, did you need such elaborate conspiracies?”