Mysuru: Maintaining that there is no difference between Pakistan Founder Mohammad Ali Jinnah’s followers and former IAS officer S.M. Jamdar, who is spearheading the agitation seeking separate Lingayat religion tag, writer and Maharani Cluster University Special Officer Prof. Ravindra Reshme has said that Jinnah partitioned the nation only for the sake of power.

He was speaking at a seminar on the topic current societal status of Veerashaiva Lingayat community held as part of the two-day Basava Jayanti celebrations jointly organised by Akhila Bharata Veerashaiva Mahasabha, Veerashaiva Lingayata Associations & Organisations and Basava Balagagala Okkuta, Mysuru, at Suttur Mutt premises at the foot of Chamundi Hill yesterday.

Pointing out Mahatma Gandhi-supported candidates won in large numbers in the general elections held in Akhanda Bharat before independence, Reshme said that Jinnah, realising that Muslims cannot rule the country in Independent India, fought for partition of the country and succeeded in creating Pakistan then.

Citing Jinnah’s example, Reshme said that the then Chief Minister Siddharamaiah, worried over losing power, tried to split Veerashaiva-Lingayats believing that such a split would help him in retaining power in the Assembly polls. But Siddharamaiah’s gambit soon became a misadventure, with the Congress badly losing the May 2018 Assembly polls and giving rise to a JD(S)-Congress coalition Government with H.D. Kumaraswamy (HDK) of the JD(S) becoming the CM.

Highlighting the role of great leaders in uniting the country which had 524 kingdoms in pre-Independent India, he said that the then CM Siddharamaiah, ignoring the huge sacrifices made by our erstwhile rulers, chose to have a separate Kannada flag for the State in the name of Kannada language, which is nothing but ridiculous. But what shocked him (Reshme) more was the support extended by the so called intellectuals for the separate Kannada flag,            he remarked.

Expressing disappointment over CM H.D. Kumaraswamy’s recent remarks, Reshme said that the CM’s controversial  remarks had made the people of North Karnataka seethe with anger.

Lambasting Kumaraswamy for his casteist remarks, Reshme regretted that there has been a dearth in Veerashaiva-Lingayat leadership for over two decades, which could be seen in election after election in the last 25 years.

Asserting that Lingayat Community was a dominant Community in the State, he wondered how many of the Community Legislators, who were nearly 50 in number, have leadership qualities that can take the  society along on the right track of development.

Referring to the economic status of the country, he said that the economic growth of the country is going on at a fast pace after the economic reforms were announced by the then Finance Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh in 1991.

Referring to the leadership of Dr. Manmohan Singh and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the writer said that while former PM Manmohan Singh has maintained silence, PM Modi doing all the talk through his speeches and he (Reshme) would leave it to the people to decide on who is the best among the two.

Accusing the Opposition parties of attempting to divide the society only for the sake of defeating PM Modi, Reshme regretted the Media’s support for such divisive politics of Opposition parties, who are trying all the tricks in the game to oust Modi in the coming Lok     Sabha Polls.

Prof. S. Nataraj Boodalu, Dr. Basavaraj Sabarada, Hemalatha Vastrad and others were present during the programme.