Dakshina Kannada District Congress Committee Backward Classes unit carried out 'Guru Sandesha yathre' on account of Brahma Shri Narayana Guru Jayanthi from Mangaluru Central Railway Station to Kudroli Gokarnanatha Temple on Saturday.
Narayana Guru had visited Dakshina Kannada for the first time via train to Mangaluru Central Station in 1908. Later, he installed Shivalinga at Kudroli which paved the way for the Kudroli Gokarnanatha Temple.
Speaking after flagging off the yatra, Opposition leader in Legislative Council B K Hariprasad said "Narayana Guru is not known only in Dakshina Kannada and Kerala. He is known across the world. He propagated one caste, one religion, one god’.
"Mangaluru, which was the land of peace lovers and tolerant people, has been moving in the opposite direction in the last few years. If Narayana Guru had not installed Shivalinga, many people from the deprived classes in the district would have been converted. Equality and respect are as important as two square meals a day for survival. Attempts are being made to drop lessons on social reformer Narayana Guru who preached equality, from textbooks," Hariprasad said. He alleged that there has been an attempt to include the names of those who are against equality, social justice, aspirations of the constitution and democracy in textbooks.
He said Narayana Guru was not against any religion. He only tried to set right the loopholes in the religion. There is a need to spread the message on Narayana Guru. The Mangaluru Central Railway Station should be named after Narayana Guru. "I will raise the issue in the Legislative Council," he said.
Published 10 September 2022, 08:47 IST