A special puja for Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar and his family at Hasanamba Temple in Hassan reportedly triggered protests from devotees who had waited for hours in the general queue on Sunday, with some throwing footwear at a television screen showing the ceremony, according to Prajavani.
Shivakumar visited Hassan district with his family and offered prayers at the temple. The report said special arrangements were made for the family, while devotees waiting for darshan in the regular queue faced a temporary restriction on entering the sanctum until the special puja was completed.
Thousands of devotees, including women and children, were reportedly waiting in long queues for several hours. The delay led some visitors to express anger inside the temple premises. A video showing footwear being thrown at the television screen displaying Shivakumar was circulated widely on social media, according to the report.
The incident has brought renewed attention to how access is managed at heavily visited temples when public figures receive priority arrangements. Prajavani reported that devotees questioned whether it was appropriate to keep large numbers of visitors waiting in queues because the visitor was the Chief Minister. The report identified Shivakumar as Karnataka’s Deputy Chief Minister, while describing the visit and special puja at Hasanamba Temple.
The temple’s regular visitors were not reported to have been denied darshan permanently. The restriction described in the report was temporary and continued until the special prayer by Shivakumar’s family was completed. No separate statement from the temple administration or the state government was included in the supplied report regarding the queue arrangements or the protest.
The incident also drew a political response. The Bharatiya Janata Party shared the video on X and criticised the episode in a sarcastic post, saying that devotees had thrown footwear after seeing Shivakumar on a screen and questioning what might happen if they encountered him in person. The post was quoted by Prajavani.
The Hasanamba Temple attracts large crowds during its annual opening period, making queue regulation and the separation of official visits from general darshan a significant operational issue for the administration. In this instance, the reported protest followed a visible delay for devotees while the special puja was conducted inside the sanctum. Further statements from the temple authorities or district administration were not included in the source report.
