Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has declared that he will pledge his eyes, inspired by the late Rajkumar who had also donated his eyes.
The ‘Raj Ratha’, which started from Rajkumar’s birthplace, Gajanur, and reached the memorial site here on Saturday touring across Karnataka, campaigned on eye donation along its route. By the time of the memorial inauguration, close to a lakh had taken a pledge for eye donation, said the actor’s son Raghavendra Rajkumar.
Interestingly, the star’s 1954 super-hit Bedara Kannappa , which brought Kannada its first national award, had the lead character offering his eyes to his deity Shiva. Dr. Rajkumar Eye Bank, an initiative of Narayana Nethralaya, was inaugurated by the late actor in 1994, who had led by example by donating his eyes.
