BENGALURU: Former Lokayukta Justice N Santhosh Hegde on Saturday noted that politics is very important in democracy, but it has become individual-centric today and politicians are dividing religions and preparing to divide the country on linguistic basis.
Speaking at the launch of VR1 (We Are One), an initiative led by former state Chief Secretary Dr A Ravindra, at BMS College of Law, he highlighted the "growth of greed" in the country by giving examples of scams, starting from the Jeep scandal to the 2G scam.
Justice Hegde said the country cannot see growth if public money is siphoned off and alleged that all three constitutional pillars are involved in it.
Referring to how those accused in some cases are given a rousing welcome upon release from jail on bail, he said such people used to be boycotted in earlier days. "Now, honesty has no place in society. You should change society in terms of peace and solidarity. You should lead your life by earning legitimately and be part of the change and respect and practice humanism," he advised students.
Recalling an incident when he was Karnataka Lokayukta, Justice Hegde said that he went to a hospital after receiving a complaint from the kin of an Air Force personnel from Hyderabad about postmortem not being conducted.
"The superintendent had called one of two doctors who were entrusted with the job of postmortem. He came and replied to me, 'What is the hurry? I want to treat living patients'. That will be the future. Do you want to step into the shoes of such a doctor? Understand, you must change society," he urged the students.
Former IAS officer Ravindra said the initiative was launched to promote social harmony among different religious, caste and linguistic groups.