Bengaluru: The slogan of ‘Vishwaguru Basavanna as Cultural Leader’ will sound across the State, said Chief Minister Siddaramaiah here on Tuesday.

Addressing the gathering after releasing the portrait of Basavanna at the Banquet Hall of Vidhana Soudha here, the CM said: “The portrait of Basavanna will be unveiled at all the Government offices across the State on Feb. 17. The District Ministers have been instructed to do the honour of unveiling the portrait at the district level, while the Legislators will do at taluk levels and the Presidents of respective Urban and Rural Local Bodies at those offices. All the offices should have the portrait of Basavanna, so that we can at least inculcate some of the ideals propagated by Basavanna in our life.”

While the premises of old jail at Shivamogga is named after Allama Prabhu, it is our own Government in the past that named Women’s University at Vijayapura after Akka Mahadevi, said the CM. All these initiatives are aimed at bringing in some reforms in the society. The vachanas penned by Basavadi sharanas hold all time relevance and there is no dearth of funds for the programmes on Basavanna, assured the CM.

Karnataka Government has declared Basavanna as ‘Cultural Leader’, as the great personalities like Buddha, Basava, Mahatma Gandhi and Dr. B.R. Ambedkar had vouched for building a healthy society with social system inclusive of humanitarian concerns. Caste system and blind beliefs prevail in the society which forced Basavanna then to strive to get rid of inequality to ensure a life of self-respect for all. The credit of ‘Walk the talk’ goes to Basavanna who penned vachanas with the sole intention of establishing a casteless and blind-belief free society. The vachanas were written in a simple manner to reach the people with ease to create awareness among them, said Siddaramaiah.

Basavanna who also propagated ‘Kayaka’ (work) and ‘Dasoha’ (feeding people) wanted people to earn their own bread without lazing around. Basavanna was also averse to the system where poor remained poor while elites led a leisurely life, strongly sending a message that Power and Wealth should not be concentrated in a few people in the society. Everybody should have equal share and life, as strongly propagated by Basavadi sharanas and Dr. Ambedkar, said Siddaramaiah.