Vidhana Soudha, Karnataka’s seat of the legislature, will get a new statue of Basavanna, the 12th-century social reformer.
Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa has directed the Kannada & Culture department to draw up a formal proposal for the installation of Basavanna’s statue in the sprawling Vidhana Soudha premises.
“It is only befitting for the democratic system to install a statue in Vidhana Soudha of Basavanna, who laid the foundation of democracy by establishing the Anubhava Mantapa in the 12th century,” Yediyurappa stated in a note to the Kannada & Culture department earlier this month, which has come to light now.
There are no details available on how this statue will look or how much it will cost.
It was only last August that Yediyurappa unveiled a statue of Basavanna at Chalukya Circle (Basaveshwara Circle), not very far from Vidhana Soudha, renovated at a cost of Rs 1.5 crore.
Basavanna is widely credited as the founder of the Lingayat sect. However, this sect is considered to have been an existing tradition also known as Veerashaiva. Yediyurappa belongs to the Veerashaiva-Lingayat community, which is politically influential.
In 2017, the then chief minister Siddaramaiah ordered Basavanna’s photo to be displayed in all government offices.
Yediyurappa himself has been bullish on the Anubhava Mantapa project, a Rs 500 crore structure to recreate Basavanna’s original Anubhava Mantapa at Basavakalyan in Bidar district. The Yediyurappa administration has also established the Karnataka Veerashaiva-Lingayat Development Corporation for which Rs 500 crore has been allocated.
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(Published 26 June 2021, 09:10 IST)
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