Farmers Protest in Bengaluru After Elderly Man Denied Entry to Mall for Wearing Dhoti

In Bengaluru, Karnataka, a group of farmers and a pro-Kannada organization protested in front of GT World Mall. The protest was sparked by an incident where an elderly man was allegedly denied entry to the mall because he was wearing a ‘dhoti’.

A protester explained, “A farmer had arrived here, wearing a ‘dhoti’, but the security guard didn’t let him inside. So, we are protesting here.”

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) national spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla criticized the Congress-led Karnataka government. He shared a video of the incident on ‘X’ and stated, “Under Karnataka Congress govt patronage, farmers are being abused and insulted for wearing Dhoti? Banned entry in a mall! Karnataka CM wears a dhoti! Dhoti is our pride.. should farmer wear a tuxedo in a mall? How is Karnataka Congress allowing this? They are most anti-farmer! They even increased prices of diesel & betrayed farmers. Now they are insulting farmers by denying entry in Dhoti. Where is Rahul Baba? Is this Kisan ke saath Nyay?”

Karnataka Congress MLA NA Haris called the incident “unacceptable” and urged the state government to take action. He said, “This is unacceptable…Dhoti is our traditional dress…We will tell the government to take action.”

Congress leader Rizwan Arshad also condemned the incident, stating that the Karnataka Congress government will not tolerate discrimination and will take strict action. He said, “This is a kind of discrimination… If someone is decently dressed, (then) they should be given respect. If somebody has done that (referring to the Bengaluru mall incident), the strictest action has to be taken against that institution, and in our government, we will not tolerate this.”

Arshad added, “A poor farmer has a right to come and visit any place authorized for him… so this discrimination will not be tolerated, we will take strict action.”