Mysuru, July 30: Progressive thinker Prof BP Mahesh Chandra Guru said that as the country would have future only if it was made Modi-free India, dalits, backward classes and minorities should come together to fight for it.

Presiding over a symposium on ‘Defeats-victories of social justice’ at the second death anniversary of Rakesh Siddaramaiah, organized at Manasagangotri Rani Bahadur Auditorium here on Monday, he said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been looting the country. Every day he was going to one country and begging. Asking the countries to establish the industries to loot the country and give him something. Should the country need such a Prime Minister? The country could be made Modi-free only when the dalits, backward classes and minorities come together and fight to achieve this cause, he said.

Modi, Amith Shah, Sri Rama Sene and Sangh Parivar have been pushing the dalits and backward classes to slavery. Such organizations and persons should be taught a lesson, he said.

Right from the Brahmins to tribals, reservation should be implemented on caste basis to ensure social justice. Top positions of the country were in the hands of upper caste people. Interestingly, judiciary, universities, politics and higher positions in the administration were dominated by the Brahmins. The Brahmins who are just 3 per cent in the total population of the country, have got 90 per cent posts in judiciary. Then how would the people get social justice? It was because of the Brahmins, the country was lagging behind in development, he said.

The country was under the Brahmins clutches for many years and it was the time to remove it. It was inevitable to keep Brahmins away from power to protect the country, for which dalits, backward classes and minorities should come together. Due to lack of education, social awareness, organization, and intelligence, the backward class people were lagging behind in development. Though they have social concerns, the people did not understand this. Brahmins have taken this as an advantage and divided the society in the name of castes due to which they were enjoying the power, he said.

‘Siddaramaiah means development’

Two chief ministers from Mysuru region would remain in the memory of people for years. Former chief minister Devaraj Urs was the person responsible for transformation, while Siddaramaiah heralded the development of the state. Within few hours of taking over as the Chief Minister, Siddaramaiah had introduced Anna Bhagya scheme. He had given sufficient funds under SCP and TSP schemes for dalits welfare. If the dalit leader was the chief minister, he would not have given so much importance and funds to the welfare of dalits. The social justice should not have defeated. But Siddaramaiah was defeated in Chamundeshwari and it was the death of AHINDA(M.B.D), he analysed.

Senior journalist D Umapathi, progressive thinker Indudhara Honnapura, chief minister’s joint secretary (retired) M Ramaiah, former minister CH Vijayashankar, writer Kalegowda Nagavara, district Congress president Dr BJ Vijay Kumar and others were present.



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Mumbai, Nov 25: Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut on Monday demanded a re-election in Maharashtra using ballot papers, claiming there were irregularities with the electronic voting machines (EVMs).

Talking to reporters, Raut alleged several complaints about EVMs malfunctioning and questioned the integrity of the recently held elections.

The BJP-led Mahayuti won 230 out of 288 seats in the assembly elections, while the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi managed 46 seats, with Shiv Sena (UBT) winning just 20 out of 95 seats it contested.

"We have received nearly 450 complaints regarding EVMs. Despite raising objections repeatedly, no action has been taken on these issues. How can we say these elections were conducted fairly? Hence, I demand that the results be set aside and elections be held again using ballot papers," Raut said.

Citing some instances, he said a candidate in Nashik reportedly received only four votes despite having 65 votes from his family, while in Dombivli, discrepancies were found in EVM tallies, and election officials refused to acknowledge the objections.

The Sena (UBT) leader also questioned the credibility of the landslide victories of some candidates, saying, "What revolutionary work have they done to receive more than 1.5 lakh votes? Even leaders who recently switched parties have become MLAs. This raises suspicions. For the first time, a senior leader like Sharad Pawar has expressed doubts about EVMs, which cannot be ignored."

Asked about the MVA's poor performance in the elections, Raut rejected the idea of blaming a single individual.

"We fought as a united MVA. Even a leader like Sharad Pawar, who commands immense respect in Maharashtra, faced defeat. This shows that we need to analyse the reasons behind the failure. One of the reasons is EVM irregularities and the misuse of the system, unconstitutional practices, and even judicial decisions left unresolved by Justice Chandrachud," he said.

Raut stressed that though internal differences might have existed within the MVA, the failure was collective.

He also accused the Mahayuti of conducting the elections in an unfair manner.

"I cannot call the elections fair given the numerous reports of discrepancies in EVMs, mismatched numbers, and vote irregularities across the state," Raut said.