Bangalore: Karnataka Government is moving in the direction of banning the “made snana”,a ritual of rolling by lower caste people on plantain leaves left by Brahmins after partaking lunch in some temples, Minister for Religious Endowments V S Acharya told the state assembly.

“The issues pertain to a belief of people.It is being practised for more than 500 years.It cannot be banned forcibly. We have to educate people. The government is moving in this direction to ban the practice”, Acharya said when opposition Congress sought a ban on the practice.

Acharya said three types of ‘made snana’ are being practised in the state and added “this year also the government made efforts to ban it in Kukke Subramanya temple in Dakshina Kannada district, but was forced to allow it in the wake of protests against the ban.”

Hitting back at Congress Deputy Leader T B Jayachandra, who criticised the BJP government’s failure to end the “obnoxious” practice,Acharya said “the country got independence 64 years ago.Congress ruled the state for about 60 years. Why Congress governments did not think of banning the practice?

‘Made Snana’ is an annual ritual held in Kukke Subramanya temple and at another temple in Pavagada taluk of Tumkur district.

The House later passed The Karnataka Hindu Religious Institutions and Charitable Endowments (2nd Amendment) Bill, 2011 which seeks to remove certain difficulties faced in implementing the provisions of the Act enacted in 1997 and to omit certain overlapping provisions in the act.

The JDS staged a dharna for a brief while and later walked out after the Speaker rejected its demand for deferring the passage of the bill to February six as its members wanted to offer their suggestions.