The Hindu : Karnataka News : ‘Strength of Indian democracy is acceptance of differences’

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Friday, Feb 15, 2008
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Karnataka

Karnataka

‘Strength of Indian democracy is acceptance of differences’

Staff Correspondent

Advani inaugurates Taralabalu Hunnime Mahotsav

According to Advani, in India, spiritual power is superior to mental power
Yeddyurappa says, if BJP comes back to power it will frame policies for advancement of farmers

Holalkere: Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha L.K. Advani has said that the essence and strength of Indian democracy lies in its respect for differing opinions.

Speaking after inaugurating the Taralabalu Hunnime Mahotsav at Holalkere town on Wednesday, he said that this quality had kept democracy intact in India for decades.

Mr. Advani, who greeted the gathering in Kannada, said that he was immensely happy to be a part of the function. The rest of his speech was in Hindi, which was translated by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) national general secretary H.N. Ananth Kumar.

Quoting from the book Power Shift by Alvin Toffler, Mr. Advani said that earlier people believed that the strength of an individual or a country lay in its physical or military power. Later, they believed that real strength existed in financial power. In recent times, the belief has shifted to thinking that the country that possessed mental power was supreme.

“This concept may make sense for Westerners, but in India spiritual power is superior to mental power. Even Westerners have agreed to this,” he said.

Recalling the time when he was kept in Bangalore Central Jail during the Emergency, Mr. Advani said that if he had stayed for a few more months in jail, he would have been fluent in Kannada.

Commendable

In his address, the former Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa said that religious institutions such as the Taralabalu Math were doing a commendable job of bringing in equality in society and maintaining social integrity.

Mr. Yeddyurappa tried to highlight the achievements of the BJP during the Janata Dal (Secular)-BJP coalition rule.

Claim

Claiming that most of the “pro-people” decisions he took was because of the advice given by spiritual leaders such as Shivamurthy Shivacharya Swami, he said that it was on the advice of the seers that he decided to ban the sale of arrack in the State and write off interest on farm loans.

He said that if the BJP was brought back to power, it would frame policies for the advancement of farmers.

G.M. Siddeshwar, MP; the former MLAs A.V. Umapati and H. Anjaneya; B.T. Channabasappa, MLC; and Panditaradhya Shivacharya Swami of Sanehalli Math were present.

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