Former chief minister late D Devraj Urs fought for the socially exploited classes and brought them justice. He remained a champion and leader of the backward classes for ever, said Municipal Administration Minister Alanguru Srinivas.
He was speaking after inaugurating the 92nd birth anniversary celebrations of late chief minister D Devraj Urs organised by Zilla Panchayat, district administration and Backward Classes Welfare department in Kolar on Monday and said it was the golden age in Karnataka after Urs took over as CM in 1972.
Urs had chalked out many programmes to take forward the backward classes which included land reforms, banning removal of night soil, atrocities Act, 20 point programme and banning of caste practice. The credit for bringing in all these reforms goes to him, said Mr Srinivas.
He was one of those rare chief ministers which the State saw, who fiercely saw to it that there was efficiency and honesty in administration. He had also implemented programmes like land for the tiller, free education, job reservation for backward classes, sites for the houseless to name a few.
Added to this was his contribution in the field of education, agriculture and social areas, he said. Urs also introduced the atrocities Act to fight the untouchability issue and control the higher castes domination. He also brought in several changes to remove caste system, said Mr Srinivas.
Former prime minister H D Deve Gowda also followed the footsteps of Devraj Urs and brought about an amendment in the backward classes development to give more representation for them. He also gave more representation for women in education, political and other fields, he said.
ZP president V Venkatamuniyappa who presided said, Urs had become a role model for the entire country with his far reaching reforms by fighting for the cause of the backward classes. Just by sharing the dais and showing lip sympathy to the Ahinda movement without really doing any introspection was deceiving oneself and causing harm to the backward classes. This attitude will not bring any credit to the politicians, he said doing an introspection.
ZP vice president, Krishnamma, ZP member Mangamma Muniswamy, TP president Lakshamma, District Cooperative union president Byalahalli M Govinde Gowda, dalit leaders Chandrashekar, T Vijaykumar, Gokul Naryanswamy, Harohalli Narayanswamy, deputy commissioner G Ramachandra, ZP CEO K S Suryanarayan Rao and others participated.
