Writer’s remarks on Lord Ram irks audience; divided listeners indulge in war of words

Mysuru: Writer Prof. K.S. Bhagawan was escorted out of a seminar amidst heavy Police security while another thinker was forced to cut short his address after the audience found their speeches discursive and aimed at hurting religious sentiments and tweaking mythology.

Prof. Bhagawan was speaking at a technical session on ‘Neglected Sections of People’ at Maharaja’s College Centenary Hall yesterday.

Referring to the renewed demand for building a Ram temple at Ayodhya during the Dharma Sansad held at Udupi, Prof. Bhagawan said, “There was a discussion on building a temple for Ram. It is not fair to build a temple as Ram has a bloody history of butchering many people. The motive behind organising such meets is deliberate.” He went on to say that building a temple amounts to encouraging caste system.

“The Seers of various religious institutions are discussing religion and construction of Ram Mandir while we are discussing the problems of neglected people and the downtrodden in the society, here,” he said and added “The media is also giving wider coverage to the Dharma Sansad, compared to the Kannada Sammelana. They all worship Rama, who sent his pregnant wife to the forest. Rama is not God. The history of India is a bundle of lies. Governments are also trying to introduce these lies in school curriculum. It is high time people wake up and rebel against the Seers and false historians, who have been fooling them since ages. All those people who worship Rama are slaves.”

At this point, a man sitting in the balcony raised objection saying he had come to the session only to listen to his thoughts on the topic and not to hear any opinions on Ram. “Don’t deviate from the topic,” he warned Prof. Bhagawan.

An unfazed Bhagawan asked him to leave the hall if he was not okay with his thoughts.

As Prof. Bhagawan continued his tirade, the audience shouted at him for digressing. Bhagawan too received support from the audience and the two divided groups indulged in a war of words. While Prof. Bhagawan questioned his critics about their qualification and what they have read, the latter shouted at Bhagawan and his supporters and demanded withdrawal of his statements. When the situation was going out of control, Police intervened and escorted Bhagawan to his car and sent him away.

Siddaswamy forced to end speech

Earlier, thinker Siddaswamy was forced to abruptly end his address after he chose to ‘correct’ what he claimed to have been distorted in the legend related to demon Mahishasura. Siddaswamy, who described the demon king as a Buddhist, disputed the mythological tale that he was killed by Chamundeshwari.

Mahishasura story is not related to Mysuru as it was based in Vindhya Hills, he claimed. This led to chaos and commotion for some time as a section of audience warned him against digressing from the topic. When there was no sign of the agitated audience relenting, Siddaswamy cut short his speech and returned to his chair.