Pics: Umesh Marpalli
Daijiworld Media Network - Udupi (HB/SP)

Udupi, Aug 9: The district Congress committee and Congress Sevadal on Wednesday August 9 organized a programme here to commemorate 75 years of 'Quit India' movement.

The programme began with padayatra from Congress office at Brahmagiri to clock tower via Joduraste.

Addressing the gathering, media advisor to Karnataka chief minister,Dinesh Amin Mattu, who was the main speaker, said that Congress party is purely based on ideology and that is why he decided to partner with it. "Congress follows secular principles and fights against religious bigotism. In Karnataka, mention of caste and religious system evoke fear. As such, we have to drive away forces which instill fear," he stated.

Mattu said that when the concerned are clear about the ideologies they follow, they can survive and grow strong over time. "Nowadays, projecting oneself as patriot is easy as he can resort to deliver addresses, wear caps etc. Real patriots are quite different. They do everything from their heart, and never boast about what they do. We do not find names of Shyam Mukherjee and Savarkar in the list of patriots who fought for our freedom in history books. Rashtriya Swayam Sevak Sangh did not fight for the nation. A B Vajpayee had written an apology letter to the British. There are records to prove that Hindutva protagonists had surrendered to the British. RSS was formed in 1925 and Jan Sangh came into being in 1950. If these people can openly declare that they had fought for the country and participated in freedom movement, I will surrender to them. RSS did not even accept independence till 1950 and hoisted its own flag. Real patriots do not claim themselves to be so. RSS activists who claim to be patriots are masked betrayers and they need to be shunned," he felt.

He said that BJP and Sangh Parivar have no clarity about castes and religions and they coin these words only for political gains. "Religion, belief systems and caste system should be purely individualistic. There are 0.11 percent atheists in the world and having faith in something is purely personal. I accept religion preached by Swami Vivekananda and Narayana Guru, who were genuine patriots but not people like Kalladka Prabhakar Bhat, Mohan Bhagwat, Amit Shah etc," he stated.

Mattu wanted to ask the BJP as to what is the eligibility criteria to be known as a Hindu and wanted to know whether being born in Hindu family is not enough. He said he has observed people following different ideologies from close quarters and had associated himself with Janardhan Poojaryu, Deve Gowda, Ananth Kumar, Nalin Kumar Kateel etc. He said it would not be fair for him to reveal their individual interests including food. Out of them, he felt, Janardhan Poojary is more Hindu than others.

Dinesh said that Vishwa Hindu Parishad, Bajrang Dal etc are following political Hndutva and campaign for BJP. "If we question this aspect, the environment will become hot. We should create awareness among people that god, religion etc are purely personal and that name of god should never be used wrongly. At present, those who speak truth are strangled. I believe that sages were real social reformers who fought against caste system and untouchability. Current religious institutions, BJP and RSS act like communal recruitment agencies using innocent people. Our district comprising conscious people has now been facing an atmosphere of fear.Hindus are asked to hate Muslims. When there are important and serious issues facing the countries that are to be tackled, we harp about Muslim conflict, talaaq, moral policing, communal clashes etc. A soldier need not be guided by patriotism alone when joining the army. He may be lured by monetary benefits also. Election commission, courts etc should interfere when incidents like yesterday in Gujarat happen. Such leaders should be taught a good lesson," he stated.

Mattu said that Sonia and Rahul cannot strengthen Congress on their own, and combined work by grassroot level workers can alone achieve it. He wanted an environment that is free of fear to settle down in the country, adding that constitutional democracy should be our religion otherwise people might lose their country that is dear to their hearts.

District in-charge minister, Pramod Madhwaraj, said that Pt Jawaharlal Nehru was inside prison for 1030 days but he never gave an apology to secure his release from there. He regretted that people are forgetting such sacrifices now, which he felt is actually anti-national.