The Hindu : Karnataka News : ‘Every household should spread peace’

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Friday, Oct 03, 2008
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Karnataka

Karnataka

‘Every household should spread peace’

Special Correspondent

PRAISEWORTHY: Freedom fighter B. Namadev Shenoy being honoured by Deputy Commissioner M. Maheshwar Rao (second from right) during Gandhi Jayanti celebrations in Mangalore on Thursday.

MANALORE: When 85-year-old freedom fighter B. Namadev Shenoy passed on some slogans given by Gandhiji to schoolchildren here on Thursday, he probably had the recent communal disturbances in the district in mind.

He addressed the schoolchildren after getting felicitated by the Bharath Seval Dal and district administration as part of Gandhi Jayanti celebrations.

Stating that the message of peace should spread from every household, he urged the schoolchildren to implement some of the slogans of Gandhiji such as, no neighbourhood, no nation; distribution destroys hunger, self-realisation and science leads to development; and work is worship. Mr. Shenoy insisted on the students to repeat ‘Jai jagat’ thrice.

Mr. Shenoy said he had been arrested and sent to Bellary jail by the British on October 2, 1942 for participating in the “Bhoodan” movement of Vinoba Bhave. He was released in 1945. He was one among those who took out a rally, walked barefooted across thousands of kilometres, and succeeded in getting about 80 acre of land transferred to the downtrodden. Mr. Shenoy transferred his two-acre plot to the Vishwamaithri trust he formed at Badiyadka. Narayan Rao and Pundalik Karkera, freedom fighters, were present.

The Gandhi Jaynathi celebrations would remain in the memory of some schoolchildren, who were provided with an opportunity to accompany the dignitaries and garland the statue of Mahatma Gandhi in the park in front of Town Hall here. Schoolchildren, beholding the pro-peace slogans, took out a procession from Balamatta Government High School to Town Hall. Students and teachers of Government Teachers’ Training College participated in the rally.

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