BANGALORE: “I am not sure if the society has taken Gandhi seriously as rampant casteism and religious discrimination are still prevailing,” Governor H R Bhardwaj said on Friday.
He was speaking at a commemorative programme organised to mark the birth centenary of Mylara Mahadeva, the only freedom fighter from Karnataka to accompany Mahatma Gandhi at Dandi Satyagraha in March 1930.
“We are merely using Gandhi’s name without implementing the mandates in his ideas. I am a Brahmin by birth, but I disassociate myself from it as I am fed up of the rituals involved. How can we achieve Gandhi’s social justice with all the social evils that exist?” he questioned.
He further said, “Our parliamentary system is weak, our courts and lawyer community are under scrutiny. With all this, we cannot improve upon the ideals left behind by Gandhi and Nehru.”
The programme was organised by the Karnataka Gandhi Smaraka Nidhi (KGSN), Mylara Mahadeva Rashtriya Smaraka Nidhi and the Department of Kannada and Culture. Kasturiamma, daughter of Mylara Mahadeva, aged 71 years., who was only two years old when her father was shot by the police on April 1, 1943, took part in the event.
Mahadeva In Textbooks Governor H R Bhardwaj was given a memorandum from Haveri Deputy Commissioner H G Srivara to have a lesson on Mylara Mahadeva to be incorporated in textbooks, and establish a research chair named after him at Karnatak University in Dharwad.
Commissioner of the Department of Kannada and Culture B S Manu Baligar said that he would pursue the matter with the officials in the Education Department. “I have been directed by the Governor to look into this. I will take it up with the officials concerned. We should remember the martyrs and their sacrifices as the youths are moving away from traditional ideals,” he said.