Hindu religion survived due to social reformers like Narayana Guru : Dinesh Amin Mattu
Belthangady, September 16: Senior journalist Dinesh Amin Mattu said that Hindu religion was survived today because of revolutionary social reformers like Narayana Guru and not because of Shankaracharya.
Speaking at the 164 Jayanti of Sri Narayana Guru, organised by the Sri Guru Narayana Swamy Seva Sangha, Billava Youth Association and Women Billava Association here on Sunday, he said that the movement started by Narayana Guru was not just a religious movement. It was a cultural movement and there was a need to continue it even today, he said.
“Varnashrama system is a curse to the Hindu society. If people say it is the Hindu religion, I will strongly oppose it. Everybody loves Narayana Guru. But his ideologies are not being emulated. Now, the patriotism has become the biggest political commodity of the country. But we can see the real patriotism among soldiers. There is no relationship between the soldiers and those who speak about patriotism and do politics in their name”, he said.
Billava community has the tradition of soldier and doctors. Koti Chennayya of this land had fought for truth, justice and self-respect and it was the first class conflict. His ideals should be emulated to the society. He had not fought for the entry of temples, but had brought the temples to the door steps of exploited classes. He had advocated simple rituals. But now, lavishness had got place due to which, the exploited class was lagging behind in all aspects, he said.
The person who accepts the ideologies of Narayana Guru would not become communal. Instead, he would love everyone. The Elava community which was an exploited class in Kerala has got all positions from Chief Minister to other higher positions. But in Karnataka, the representation of the Billava community was decreasing. At one time, there were six MPs. But now, only one MP was there in the community, he said.
Former MLA K Vasanth Bangera who inaugurated the programme said that only education could improve the condition of the exploited classes in the society.
Brahmananda Saraswati Swamiji of Kanyadi said that religion should be the lifeline of the society. The ideals of Narayana Guru should be adopted in real life instead of restricting them just for speeches. Gurukul education system was the best education method, he said.
Former presidents of the Association, Vasanth Salian, Padmanabh Maninja, Raju Poojary, Yogesh Kumar, Bhagiratha G, Jayaram Bangera, Women Billava Vedike president Rajashri Raman, vedike founder president Sujitha V Bangera, Yuva Billava Vedike president Santosh Uppar and others were present.
Association president Somanath Bangera Varpale presided over the programme in which 12 ex-servicemen and 12 soldiers of the community were felicitated. A sum of Rs 6 lakh scholarship was distributed. Sanjeeva Poojary Mooda and Dayananda Poojary Mittabagilu who have contributed for the agriculture sector were felicitated. Village Committees were given Brahmashri medals. Dinesh Suvarna Rayi, association secretary Rakesh Kumar Mudukodi and others were present.
“The ideology of Sri Narayana Guru was completely neglected at the Dharma Samsad held at Kanyadi. Forget me, my slipper would not go to such Dharma Sansad where the ideologies of Narayana Guru are neglected. When I listened to the speech of Kanyadi swamiji, I surprised whether it was Narayana Guru Jayanti or Shankaracharya Jayanti. Those who opposed the previous swamiji when the latter had established the mutt, were present at the programme which is a tragedy”.
-Dines Amin Mattu
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Supreme Court rejects plea for reverting to ballots in elections
New Delhi (PTI): The Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed a petition seeking to revert to ballot paper voting in elections in the country.
"What happens is, when you win the election, EVMs (electronic voting machine) are not tampered. When you lose the election, EVMs are tampered (with)," remarked a bench of Justices Vikram Nath and P B Varale.
Apart from ballot paper voting, the plea sought several directions including a directive to the Election Commission to disqualify candidates for a minimum of five years if found guilty of distributing money, liquor or other material inducement to the voters during polls.
When petitioner-in-person K A Paul said he filed the PIL, the bench said, "You have interesting PILs. How do you get these brilliant ideas?".
The petitioner said he is the president of an organisation which has rescued over three lakh orphans and 40 lakh widows.
"Why are you getting into this political arena? Your area of work is very different," the bench retorted.
After Paul revealed he had been to over 150 countries, the bench asked him whether each of the nations had ballot paper voting or used electronic voting.
The petitioner said foreign countries had adopted ballot paper voting and India should follow suit.
"Why you don't want to be different from the rest of the world?" asked the bench.
There was corruption and this year (2024) in June, the Election Commission announced they had seized Rs 9,000 crore, Paul responded.
"But how does that make your relief which you are claiming here relevant?" asked the bench, adding "if you shift back to physical ballot, will there be no corruption?".
Paul claimed CEO and co-founder of Tesla, Elon Musk, stated that EVMs could be tampered with and added TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu, the current chief minister of Andhra Pradesh, and former state chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy had claimed EVMs could be tampered with.
"When Chandrababu Naidu lost, he said EVMs can be tampered with. Now this time, Jagan Mohan Reddy lost, he said EVMs can be tampered with," noted the bench.
When the petitioner said everybody knew money was distributed in elections, the bench remarked, "We never received any money for any elections."
The petitioner said another prayer in his plea was the formulation of a comprehensive framework to regulate the use of money and liquor during election campaigns and ensuring such practices were prohibited and punishable under the law.
The plea further sought a direction to mandate an extensive voter education campaign to raise awareness and importance of informed decision making.
"Today, 32 per cent educated people are not casting their votes. What a tragedy. If democracy will be dying like this and we will not be able to do anything then what will happen in the years to come in future," the petitioner said.
