'State would have been conscious if Lankesh was alive'

Writer, thinkers commemmorate 77th birth anniversary of Lankesh

Dalit leader and litterateur Devanoor Mahadeva opined that the political parties can survive by retaining their basic ideologies and the democracy in the nation can last long if the honest people express their anguish and anger towards the wrong path followed by the political parties.

He was delivering inaugural address at ‘Lankesh 77,’ a programme organised to commemorate the 77th birth anniversary of renowned journalist P Lankesh at St Aloysius College auditorium in Mangalore on Sunday.

Analysing the present situation of the State, Devanoor said that what Karnataka needs now is a society which is built on the principles of equality and harmony, where every person including the one who is walking on the wrong path, the one who is crawling, the one who is walking on the right way should strive hard for the survival of his own as well as of that the State.

Criticising the state politics, he said the BJP government has murdered the real definition of ‘shame’. “Reciting the word culture, the BJP men have displayed shameless attitude in the Assembly,” he slammed.

Recalling P Lankesh and his strength as a writer, Devanoor said the political, literary and cultural circles of Karnataka would have kept conscious steps forward if Lankesh was      stillalive. 
                                                                                                                                                                                Lankesh is not just a man, but he is a state of conscience, a conscience that made people to be aware of their every movement, he said.

Editor-in-Chief of Lankesh Patrike, Gauri Lankesh, who had organised the programme said the reason behind celebrating the birth anniversary of P Laneksh in Mangalore was to understand the expectations of the people from Mangalore.

Speaking at the first session of the day on the problems faced by the coastal districts, tribal and environment activist Vittal Hegde siad the implementation of unscientific projects in the Western Ghats and eviction of tribal dwellers from the forests as one of the major challenges faced by the coastal districts. “For saving four tigers which are not facing any harm from the tribal dwellers, the government wants over 15,000 people to dislocate from Kuduremukh National Park. Where is the logic and how is it justifiable,” he asked and added that owing to such reasons forest has become a bane for the tribal.

Activist G Rajashekhar said if naxalism is termed as one of the major problems of the coastal districts, then it is time we should analyse the reasons for the reason for the upsurge of naxalism. “I can point out 10 more severe problems than naxalism prevailing in this part of the region,” he said.

Four books namely  ‘Panchali,’ ‘Mareyuva Munna,’ ‘Helutene Kelu’ and ‘Nanna Preethiya Bharata’ were released on the occasion. Suresh Bhat Bakrabail released the books.