Stating that those who believe in secular principles can participate in the harmony walk from Farangipete to Mani in Dakshina Kannada on Tuesday, B. Ramanath Rai, Minister in-charge of the district, said on Saturday that actor Prakash Raj will be among those who will address a rally at the end of the walk.
G.V. Sri Rama Reddy, leader of the Communist Party of India (Marxists), Siddanagouda Patil, leader of the Communist Party of India (CPI), and L. Hanumantaiah, Congress leader, will also speak.
The Minister said like-minded parties and organisations who have strived for harmony would participate in the rally beginning at 9 a.m. It would end in Mani at 5 p.m. The walk titled ‘samarasya nadige souhardateyedege’ will cover about 22 km on NH-75. The Minister said the organisers would ensure that traffic movement on the highway was not hampered.
He said that the walk would be started by flying pigeons. No slogans would be shouted during the walk to be organised to bridge harmony in Dakshina Kannada.
The Minister said that the organisers have held preliminary meetings with like-minded parties and organisations at Puttur, Sullia, Belthangady, Bantwal and Farangipete. The stage where the speakers would speak at Mani would be named after Navoor Harish Poojary, who was murdered near Bantwal in November 2015, the Minister said. The murder of Poojary followed a disturbance in B.C. Road after a protest meeting to condemn the incidents at a Tipu Jayanti function in Madikeri.
On JD(S) announcing that it would not participate in the walk, the Minister said that it was left to the party.
U.T. Khader, Minister for Food and Civil Supplies, K. Harish Poojary, president, Dakshina Kannada Congress Committee, Muneer Katipalla, State president, DYFI, Vasantha Achari, secretary, Dakshina Kannada unit of the CPI (M), and leaders of Dalit Sangarsha Samiti (Krishnappa faction) were present.
