Kishore Peraje
Daijiworld Media Network - Bantwal

Bantwal, Dec 29: Posters put up at the 20th taluk-level Kannada Sahitya Sammelana have stirred up a controversy here on Sunday December 29, with the local literati expressing displeasure at the provocatve nature of the posters. The posters were later removed.

The two-day Kannada Sahitya Sammelana was held at the premises of Balavikasa English Medium School in Mani here. As part of the event, posters related to history and literature were put up on the walls. However, several of the posters allegedly carried demeaning and offensive messages about Islam. It is alleged that the historical posters were deliberately meant to provoke one community against the other.

Locals who were unhappy at this said that the posters indicated the 'anti-Muslim' stance of the Sammelana.

Responding to the allegation, Bantwal taluk president of Kannada Sahitya Parishat K Mohan Rao said that he had no information about the posters. When asked about the removal of the posters, he declined to comment.

When contacted, Balavikasa school president said that the school had nothing to do with the posters put up by the Sammelana organizers.

When the provocative nature of the posters was brought to the notice of the Sammelana organisers by the local literati, they responded immediately and took down them down. "The posters were about Hampi's history, but we did not know that the wordings on them were targeted against a religion. As soon as we received a complaint, we removed them," the organizers said.