Umesh Jadhav reiterates Centre’s commitment to giving STs tag for Koli community

Thousands of Koli/ Kabbaliga community members taking part in a cultural procession organised as part of Nijasharana Ambigara Chowdayya birth anniversary celebrations in Kalaburagi on Sunday. | Photo Credit: ARUN KULKARNI

Lok Sabha member from Kalaburagi Umesh Jadhav has said that the Union government is making all-out efforts to include Koli/ Kabbaliga community in the Scheduled Tribes (STs) as the community is backward.

“Koli and Kabbaliga are the synonyms of the same community which is backward. We all are from backward communities. We need to go beyond party lines when it comes to the development of backward communities. Let all of us reap the benefits of reservation,” Mr. Jadhav said at the celebration of the birth anniversary of Nijasharana Ambigara Chowdayya at S.M. Pundit Rangamandir in Kalaburagi on Sunday.

The event was jointly organised by the district administration, the Department of Kannada and Culture, the Kalaburagi City Corporation and the Kalaburagi Zilla Panchayat.

Koli community leader and member of Legislative Council Tippannappa Kamaknur said that the process of installing a statue of Ambigara Chowdayya beside the statue of Mahatma Gandhi on the Town Hall premises is in progress.

“Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Minister and Kalaburagi in-charge Priyank Kharge has promised to erect a statue of Ambigara Chowdayya. The work is in progress. Tender has already been floated. The City Municipal Council has released ₹20 lakh for the purpose. The statue will become a reality within a few days. Similarly, the State government has accepted our demand to install a Ambigara Chowdayya statue near the statues of Kempegowda and Basavanna on the premises of the Vidhana Soudha in Bengaluru,” he said.

Mr. Kamaknur also said that his community will submit a demand for declaring Ambigara Chowdayya as a cultural leader of Kalyana Karnataka just as Basavanna has been declared as the cultural leader of Karnataka.

Scholar B.P. Siddashram, in his special lecture, said that Ambigara Chowdayya has been admired by Sharanas (reformers) such as Basavanna and Allamaprabhu as a straightforward man.

Mallannappa of Tonasanahalli Allamaprabhu Math, celebration committee president Hanumanthappa Budihal, Additional Deputy Commissioner Rayappa Hunsagi, Kalaburagi Urban Development Authority Commissioner Dayanand Patil, Assistant Director of Kannada and Culture Dattappa Saganur, community leaders Rajagopal Reddy, Shivasharanappa Kobal, Devindrappa Byadihal, Basavaraj Harwal and others were present.

Earlier, a colourful cultural procession was taken out on the major streets of the city.