BENGALURU:
Eminent historian and scholar
M Chidananda Murthy, 84, was pushed around, shoved and evicted right under the nose of chief minister
Siddaramaiah here on Wednesday afternoon.
The incident took place at a function to commemorate the birth anniversary of Devara Dasimayya, a 10th-century saint, at the Banquet Hall, Vidhana Soudha.
Devara Dasimayya is considered the patron saint of weavers in the state.
The function erupted into chaos minutes after it began. A group of people led by Chidananda Murthy rushed to the front and demanded that the function not be held. They said it was Jedara Dasimayya who wrote vachanas in the 12th century and not Devara Dasimayya, who was only a devout personality. Devara Dasimayya is said to have written several vachanas (aphoristic and pithy poems).
He is also considered a precursor to Basavanna, who led the Veerashaiva movement in 12th-century North Karnataka.
"Our appeals to the state government not to celebrate Devara Dasimayya as a Vachanakara were not acted upon. When I came to know of the celebrations, I and some others met Kannada and culture minister Umashri 15 days ago, and tried to convince her that it was wrong to celebrate Devara Dasimayya's birth anniversary as he was not a Vachanakara at all," Murthy later told TOI.
"Umashri nodded to our appeal, but did nothing.Today, we went to the function and decided to give a pamphlet to the CM about the issue. We asked police to give the pamphlet - signed by S Vidyashankar, GS Siddalingaiah, Basavaraja Kalkudi, HK Jayadev and P Nanjundaswamy - to the CM, who was on the dais," he said.
Murthy and his supporters' intervention sent tempers soaring. Another group of people took objection to Murthy's conduct and demanded that he and the others apologize. That was when the pushing and jostling started. According to Ennegere Venkataramaiah, a participant and activist, Jnanpith laureate Chandrashekar Kambar, who was on the dais, tried to dissuade Murthy from continuing his protest. Kambar said it was Devara Dasimayya who wrote vachanas in the 10th century. "Devara Dasimayya, in fact, influenced Basavanna," Kambar was cited as saying.
But Murthy and his associates persisted with their protest. Vidhana Soudha police said they swung into action as things seemed to be going out of control. They neither arrested Murthy nor detained him. "People were picketing Murthy. We asked Murthy to leave the venue but he did not oblige. As a precaution, we had to forcibly take Murthy and the others outside," a police officer said. The function resumed and concluded in a peaceful manner.