Continuing the spree of announcing sops to various communities living in Telangana, Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao on Tuesday announced that the State government will celebrate the birth anniversary of Basaveshwara, a 12{+t}{+h}Century social reformer and philosopher, officially from next year onwards.
The birth anniversary of Basaveshwara, who founded Veerashaiva Lingayat faith against social evils prevailing in the society at that time and which are prevalent till date — untouchability and discrimination in the name of caste, falls on ‘Akshaya Tritiya’ day every year.
Speaking at the 882 birth anniversary function held here, Mr. Chandrasekhar Rao also announced allocation of one-acre land for constructing Basaveshwara Bhavan for the Lingayat community, financial assistance of Rs. 5 crore from the State government for construction of the building and installation of a bronze statue of the social reformer. Further, he promised to pursue the matter of Lingayat community’s plea for their inclusion in the Central OBC list. He requested Union Minister Bandaru Dattatreya, who was present there, to pursue the matter personally.
Mr. Chandrasekhar Rao said the social reformer’s life was already included in the school curriculum in the form of ‘Basava Puranam’ written by Telangana ‘Aadikavi’ Palkurki Somanathudu.
Mr. Dattatreya, Deputy Chief Minister Md. Mahmood Ali, Home Minister Nayani Narasimha Reddy, Zaheerabad MP B.B. Patil and several others spoke. Later, the Chief Minister presented Basaveshwara lifetime achievement award to Rajender, a Bihar-cadre IAS officer hailing from Lingayat community.
