Mysore/Mysuru: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah went down the memory lane, recalling his long association with veteran socialist P. Mallesh, who passed away in January 2023.

He was speaking after releasing two books authored by Mallesh — ‘Gandhi Praneeta Dharmadarshitva and Buddha Nagarjunara Shunyayana’ — along with their English translations, ‘The Gandhian Trusteeship’ by N.S. Raghuram and ‘Buddha Nagarjuna’s Journey of Void’ by Savitha Pa. Mallesh.

The event was part of a national seminar organised by the Federation of Progressive Thinkers, in association with Gandhi Vichar Parishat and the Mysore University Researchers Association, at Vijnana Bhavan, Manasagangothri, yesterday.

“Mallesh was my guide and mentor. I came into contact with him while studying law. I would attend class for an hour and spend the rest of the day with him, often bunking classes,” Siddaramaiah recalled. “I spent hours at the printing press he ran, engaged in meaningful discussions and planning movements.” He also recounted a protest they staged at K.R. Circle.

Siddaramaiah added that Mallesh had urged him to revoke the prohibition on protests at K.R. Circle after he became Chief Minister, but he could not do so.

Upliftment of marginalised groups

Though born a Lingayat, Mallesh never believed in the caste system, Siddaramaiah noted, adding that the veteran socialist should not have passed away so soon. “Six months before his death, I met him and his daughter Savitha at Nrupathunga Kannada School — that turned out to be our last meeting,” he said. For nearly four decades, Mallesh had led numerous protests rooted in humanitarian causes.

Mallesh had a deep and lasting association with AHINDA communities, driven by his conviction to bring marginalised groups into the mainstream. Siddaramaiah observed that while India’s literacy rate has risen from 14 percent at Independence to 78 percent today, the caste system continues to survive — and, alarmingly, is still upheld even by the educated.

“Since the days of revolutionary Basavanna, we have been speaking of eliminating caste, but the system persists,” Siddaramaiah lamented.

He said Mallesh, an ardent follower of Mahatma Gandhi and Ram Manohar Lohia, often expressed regret that despite progress, society continues to nurture divisions and caste-based discrimination.

Election expenses and Mallesh

I had contested the Assembly elections in 1983-84 and had entrusted my poll funds to P. Mallesh. After the elections, Mallesh — who had meticulously maintained the list of expenses — returned the remaining Rs. 1.75 lakh to me, unlike many others. To recall another noble gesture, when I was dropped from Chief Minister Ramakrishna Hegde’s Cabinet in 1986, I was travelling by a KSRTC bus. Mallesh and his friends, on learning about it, pooled Rs. 75,000 and bought an Ambassador car for me. I used that same car until I became the Finance Minister in 1994. Mallesh’s daughter, Savitha Mallesh, has inherited those same values.” —CM Siddaramaiah