Chief Minister Siddaramaiah.
Credit: DH Photo
Belagavi: Those who believe in 12th century social reformer Basavanna must reject the Karma Siddhanta, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah argued in the Assembly on Friday.
Siddaramaiah said this during his reply on the North Karnataka discussion. “Literacy has increased, but caste hasn’t gone away,” he said. “Many people blame sins they committed in a previous life for their poverty or lack of education. They say it’s fate...the Karma Siddhanta. It was Basavanna who rejected this,” he said.
Siddaramaiah said people still had the “mindset of slavery” due to long years of “Mohammedan and British rule.”
This “mindset of slavery” strengthened the caste system, he said. “Unless
caste goes, there won’t be equality.”
Intervening, Leader of the Opposition R Ashoka raised Siddaramaiah’s chief ministerial ambition.
“You sat down with Brahma and got your fate written. Nothing, not even caste, came in your way,” he said. “You’re breaking records,” he said, referring to Siddaramaiah on the verge of breaking D Devaraj Urs’ record as the longest-serving CM.
Siddaramaiah said he had no belief in fate. “We were six children and our parents were uneducated. My elder brother studied up to Class 4. Others didn’t go to school. Did Brahma write that only I will study law?”
BJP’s Suresh Gowda told Siddaramaiah that he became the chief minister in Congress in just 10 years. “You were fated! How can you not believe in Karma Siddhanta?” he asked.
“Do you believe in Basavanna?” Siddaramaiah asked. “If you believe in Basavanna, you must reject Karma Siddhanta. You can’t believe both.”