Karnataka - Bidar   

Kalyan Parva begins at Basavakalyan

By Our Staff Correspondent

BIDAR, MAY 1. The inaugural ceremony of the Kalyan Parva held on Saturday in Basavakalyan was peaceful. Many Veerashaiva organisations had protested against the conduct of the event. The bandh call given by them evoked a mixed reaction.

While Mathe Mahadevi and her followers participated in the inauguration on the Basava Mahamane premises on the outskirts of Basavakalyan, members of the Veerashaiva Mahasabha and other organisations staged a protest rally in the town, demanding that the event be stopped.

They submitted a memorandum to the Assistant Commissioner, Vijay Shankar, seeking a ban on Mathe Mahadevi's movement in the district.

The authorities concerned had clamped prohibitory orders in the town, and refused to allow a rally by the followers of Mathe Mahadevi. The turnout at the two places was, however, less than what the organisers had expected. While around 200 people took part in the rally, enrolments on the first day of the parva stood at 410 by 3 p.m. As many as 500 policemen have been deployed in Basavkalyan to ensure law and order.

S.B. Durge, vice-president of the Basaveshwara Temple Trust, demanded that the sainthood bestowed on Mathe Mahadevi be withdrawn as she had ceased to be a religious head and had become a politician of late. He criticised her for accepting the Kannada Nadu ticket for contesting in the Dharwad North Lok Sabha Constituency.

She was trying to gain political power by contesting in the elections. Therefore, she has no right to preach in the name of Basaveshwara.

Basavaraj Tambake, Raitha Sangha leader and member of the Veerashaiva Mahasabha, also spoke.

Meanwhile, Mathe Mahadevi, in her inaugural address, hoped that the State would attain complete progress when a party which allowed conduct of festivals such as Kalyan Parva assumed power. She justified organising the celebration by saying that Basaveshwara held similar festivals during his time in the 12th Century.

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