Deviation from multi-culturism to uni-culturalism will lead to collapse of the system, says Dr. Veerappa Moily

Mysore/Mysuru: Announcing that he will earmark Rs. 50 lakh out of his Rs. 2 crore MLC grant for promotion and publication of political literature, MLC and senior BJP leader A.H. Vishwanath said that this money would be given to Kannada Sahitya Parishat for carrying out the job.

He was speaking at ‘Adagur H. Vishwanath @ 75 Sambhrama,’ the 75th birthday celebration of the veteran politician, organised jointly by Mysuru District Journalists Association (MDJA) and Mysuru District Kannada Sahitya Parishat at Rani Bahadur auditorium on Hunsur Road here yesterday.

Wondering why there is no provision for political literary session at Kannada Sahitya Sammelana, he stressed on the need for including the same  at literary meets.

Observing that all people’s representatives right from a Gram Panchayat member to Member of Parliament should pen down their experiences in the form of a book, the MLC said that the grant to be provided by him would be utilised for printing of such books and distribution among the public. Pointing out that Kannada Sahitya Parishat should take this seriously, Vishwanath said that politics is the breath of politicians and the experiences written by them should reach the people.

State Kannada Sahitya Parishat President Dr. Mahesh Joshi, in his address, said that politics and political parties are important in a Democracy. Observing that literature and media should sail as a boat in political waters, he however cautioned that care should be taken to ensure that water does not enter this ‘boat.’ There are plans to include a political literary session too along with others such as Medical, Sports, Law, Police, Yakshagana and Science,  in the forthcoming Kannada Sahitya Sammelana to take place at Haveri later this year, he added.

Dr. Mahesh Joshi further said he supports the idea of setting up of a ‘University for Politics and Policies’ and he would write to Chief Minister in this regard.

Continuing, Dr. Mahesh Joshi said that the Sahitya Parishat plans to set up overseas branches in the near future. However, the branches will come up in such countries where there are at least a hundred Kannadigas, he added.

Rulers must have tolerance for all religions: Moily

Former Chief Minister and senior Congress leader Dr. M. Veerappa Moily, who too took part in the programme,  addressed the gathering and said that rulers should be tolerant of all other faiths at all times. If not it is not possible to successfully and effectively run the administration, he opined.

Maintaining that most of the Kings or Emperors who ruled Karnataka between the Second and Fifteenth centuries were Jains, Dr. Moily maintained that the Jain kings, who controlled a majority of the State’s provinces, could become good administrators because they were tolerant of all faiths.

Cautioning that any deviation from the era of multi-culturism to uni-culturalism would lead to collapse of the system, the former CM opined that this will also cause deterioration of values.

 Recalling that he could become the Chief Minister of Karnataka in the 1990s because of the key-role played by senior leaders such as A.H. Vishwanath, V. Sreenivasa Prasad and H.M. Revanna, Dr. Moily said that Vishwanath, who had learnt his political lessons from D. Devaraj Urs, was allotted the Kannada and Culture portfolio as he was more capable of taking the Department forward independently. Later, Vishwanath was assigned the Forest portfolio at a time when the elusive forest brigand Veerappan was causing havoc, Moily pointed out.

“I allotted the Forest portfolio to Vishwanath as I believed that he was the best person to tackle Veerappan. Accordingly, Vishwanath did his job well and as a result the number of Veerappan’s associates came down sharply to just about five from over 400,” Dr. Moily said adding that Vishwanath’s Veerappan operations were successful most of the times.

Dr. Moily, who is also a former Union Minister and MLC A.H. Vishwanath were honoured on the occasion.

District Kannada Sahitya Parishat President Maddikere Gopal, former Parishat Presidents Dr. Y.D. Rajanna and M. Chandrashekar, theatre personality Rajashekar Kadamba and others were present  on the occasion.