The Hindu : Meeting seeks White Paper on Nada Geethe controversy

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Jan 24, 2004

Karnataka

Karnataka - Mangalore

Meeting seeks White Paper on Nada Geethe controversy

By Our Staff Correspondent

MANGALORE, JAN. 23. Speakers at a meeting convened by the Dakshina Kannada unit of the Kannada Sahitya Parishat here today criticised the attack on the President of the parishat, Harikrishna Punaroor, in Bangalore on Wednesday. They urged the Government to punish those responsible for the attack and demanded a White Paper on the developments leading to the incident.

The participants also decided to meet the Chief Minister, S.M. Krishna, at the earliest to convey their disappointment with the turn of events. The meeting passed a resolution seeking the inclusion of the name of the proponent of Dwaita philosophy, Madhwacharya, in the Nada Geethe.

The meeting authorised the President of the parishat's district unit, Pradeep Kumar Kalkura, to take a final decision on the future course of action. It observed that such incidents would deter people from taking up public service for the fear of attack.

Amruth Someshwar, writer, said Wednesday's incident had no place in civilised society. Differences, literary or otherwise, should be settled democratically, he said.

Srinivas Havanoor, writer, remarked that such incidents, which were hitherto common in politics, had crept into the literary field also. He blamed the State Government for its role in the controversy generated by the decision to truncate Kuvempu's song.

Prabhakar Joshy, folk scholar, said there was a lot of misinformation about the entire controversy. Regretting the hype created by a section of the media on the assault on Mr. Punaroor, he said it was an action that should be condemned by all.

Dr. Joshy demanded that the Government issue a White Paper on the episode. Only such a step would help dispel doubts in the minds of the people.

The president of the State unit of Samskara Bharati and former MLA, Kumble Sundar Rao, said the assault on Mr. Punaroor had shaken a section of society.

The MLAs, N. Yogish Bhat and K. Abhayachandra Jain, K. Balakrishna Bhat, MLC, the President of CAMPCO, B. Nagaraja Shetty, K. Amarnath Shetty, former MLA, the President of the Mangalore Taluk unit of the parishat, M. Mohan Alva, and others spoke.

Seer condemns attack

Vidyadheesha Tirtha Swamiji of Palimar Math has criticised the assault on the President of the Kannada Sahitya Parishat, Harikrishna Punaroor, in Bangalore recently.

In a press release issued here, the swamiji said the assault was an insult to society. All issues should be sorted out peacefully and not with the use of muscle power, he said.

In a separate press release, the MLC, V.S. Acharya, said the attack on Mr. Punaroor was an assault on Kannadigas.

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