I too wanted to go to jail: Siddharamaiah

Mysore/Mysuru: Recalling his earlier days when he used to take part in movements for social causes, Chief Minister Siddharamaiah said he too loved to go to jail along with other activists during those movements.

He was speaking after releasing late social activist P. Mallesh’s work ‘Buddha Nagarjunara Shoonyayaana’ at a programme organised at Ramagovinda Rangamandira in Ramakrishnagar here on Saturday.

Pointing out that he too was part of an agitation against imposition of Emergency in which P. Mallesh, A. Ramanna and Vedanta Hemmige had taken part, Siddharamaiah said he was ready to go to jail if the Police wanted to. ‘I had also told my family members then that I would come out of jail in six months,’ he said while recollecting the days when he had taken part in movements in the seventies and early eighties.

Stating that the then Devaraja Inspector Halappa had come to K.R. Circle where an agitation against Emergency was going on when Mallesh and others escaped the Police, he said, “However myself and two others were taken into custody and brought to the Police Station. All the three had to spend the night in the Police Station. But the Police sent Ramanna and Vedanta Hemmige to jail while I was let off. I said I too want to go to jail but the Police did not oblige and asked me to leave the Police Station and go home.”

“Being an advocate, I was the Mysore Bar Association Secretary when I practiced Law. When Gundurao was the Chief Minister, the then SP, who was taken to task by Gundurao, took Prof. Ramdas, P. Mallesh and others into custody and produced them before the Court. Then, I told the Judge about the intention of the Police.

Later, as the hearing began, I asked Ramdas to wear the dress of an advocate and succeeded in bringing him out of the Court Hall through the back door. Thereafter, I also succeeded in bringing Mallesh too by escaping the Police watch and took him in my scooter to a friend’s house in Jayanagar,” he said adding that Mallesh was a hardcore socialist and practiced secular principles.

District In-charge Minister Dr. H.C. Mahadevappa, former MLA Dr. Yathindra Siddharamaiah, Senior  Journalist  G.P. Basavaraju, Savitha P. Mallesh, Bhakta Ramegowda, Ugranarasimhegowda, Abhiruchi Ganesh and others were present.