Daijiworld Media Network - Udupi (MS)
Udupi, Jan 8: The proposed Billawa-Muslim get-together that was scheduled to take place on Janaury 11 in the city has been postponed.
Giving details of the reason for postponement former minister Vinay Kumar Sorake, president of welcome committee of the convention said, "With the intention of establishing peace and communal harmony in the society, the Udupi District Muslim Federation exchanged ideas with representatives of Billawa, Bunts, Mogaveera, Christian, Dalit and other community people of holding a friendly get-together. Accordingly, a meeting was held with representatives of Billawa community on October 30, in which more than 70 representatives of various Billawa organizations took part and also agreed to extend their full cooperation for the noble cause.
"Accordingly, a welcome committee was formed, the presidentship of which was given to me. Janardhan Thonse was made as the chief convener and Mohammed Idris as the convener. B N Shankar Poojary, Katapady Shankara Poojary, Yasin Malpe and Raju Poojary Byndoor were made as the vice-presidents of the welcome committee, which had 16 people in total.
"As per the decision of the welcome committee preliminary meetings were held in all the taluks. In every meetings nearly 100 to 300 Billawa representatives had taken part. Not a single word of dissidence was spoken in those meetings. Everyone accepted the aim of the convention whole-heartedly.
"In spite of all the agreement, some vested interests are spreading false news about the get-together on social media. They are using abusive language on the members of the welcome committee and also threatening them with physical abuse. Owing to these reasons, one or two members of the welcome committee have denied participating. Minister Kota Srinivas Poojary, who was supposed to inaugurate the get-together on January 11 has also expressed his inability to partake in the event. So the welcome committee has decided that it is not suitable to hold the Billawa-Muslim friendly get-together on the scheduled date.
"It was decided in the meeting that a committee with like-minded meeting will be formed in the coming days and a new date will be fixed for the friendly get-together. False rumours with regards to the improper way of inviting minister Kota Srinivas Poojary for the function are spread by some anti-social elements. Only after meeting the minister thrice and taking his approval, we got the invitations printed for the convention. It is not right to say that his name was printed in the invitation card without his permission.
"The delegation which went to invite minister Kota Srinivas Poojary included eminent persons like B N Shankara Poojary, Janardhan Thonse, Rama Poojary, Idris Hoode, M A Maula Udupi, Karamath Ali Udupi and Kota Ibrahim Saheb.
"Considering the present situation, it was decided in the welcome committee meeting that was held on to postpone the event on Tuesday, January 7 to postpone the event," said Sorake.