Karnataka Rajyotsava Award recipient environmentalist commits suicide
Davanagere: Nature conservationist and Karnataka Rajyotsava Award recipient Saalumarada Veeraachaar (70) reportedly ended his life by hanging himself from a tree in the middle of the village on Monday night.
Saalumarada Veeraachaar, a popular figure in the state, was known for planting rows of trees and nurturing them in the regions surrounding the Davanagere and Harihara Taluk. Recognizing his efforts to preserve nature and his concern for the environment, the state government honoured him with the Karnataka Rajyotsava Award.
The senior environmentalist is said to have protested several times concerning the matter of the Mitlagatte Nyayabele Angadi. He had demanded that the Nyayabele Angadi should be entrusted to someone else. However, since his demands and requests were not fulfilled in this matter, a disheartened Veeraachaar took the drastic measure of ending his life by suicide, it is learned.
Learning the news of his suicide, the villagers have undertaken a protest. The protesters expressed their extreme anger that the demands of a Rajyotsava Awardee were not fulfilled in this issue. The Tahsildar and senior authorities visited the site and demanded justice.
The deceased is survived by his wife, two daughters, one son, and a legion of friends, relatives, and admirers.
Prominently known as Davanagere’s Mitlagatte Saalumarada Veeraachaar, the elderly nature conservationist has planted more than 3000 trees and raised them. His continuous efforts and service towards preserving nature have brought him hundreds of awards including the Rajyotsava Award.
It is learned that he had been protesting against an injustice happening at Nyayabele Angadi in Mitlagatte and sworn, “If the courts, people, and God do not provide justice, I will surrender myself to the noose.” When he did not receive the expected response in the matter, according to his oath, a disheartened Saalumarada Veeraachaar hung himself from a tree around 2 am on Monday.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Sharad Pawar praised RSS after seeing how it burst fake narrative balloon of LS polls: Fadnavis
Nagpur, Jan 10: Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Friday said NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar praised the RSS after realising how the outfit managed to overcome the fake narrative spread by the opposition in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
The opposition had claimed BJP wanted to win 400 seats to change the Constitution and end reservations, a narrative which BJP leaders later claimed hit the party hard.
On Pawar praising the RSS recently, the CM said the MVA was successful in creating a fake narrative during the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
"When assembly polls were approaching, many people from diverse fields who are inspired by the RSS played their role and burst the balloon of this fake narrative. Sharad Pawar saheb is very intelligent. He would have certainly studied this aspect. He realised that this (RSS) is not a regular political power but a nationalist power. In any competition it is good to praise others," he added.
That is why Pawar may have praised the RSS, Fadnavis said.
Speaking at an interaction with senior editor Vivek Ghalsasi at Late Vilasji Fadnis Jivhala programme here, Fadnavis also said he had asked for organisational work when Eknath Shinde was made chief minister in June 2022, but senior leaders asked him to join the government.
He also said Prime Minister Narendra Modi asked him not to behave like an extra-constitutional authority in the government.
He said the decision to become deputy chief minister on the command of the party leadership earned him a lot of praise from the cadre.
After the massive mandate the ruling alliance received in the 2024 assembly polls, Fadnavis said people and party workers would not have been happy if the CM was not from the BJP.
Shinde himself agreed within minutes that the CM must be from the BJP, which itself got 132 seats and was close to a majority of its own in the 288-member assembly, he added.
On Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray meeting him during the winter sessions of the legislature in Nagpur, Fadnavis said he had announced he would not indulge in politics of revenge after becoming CM and all leaders responded positively to it.
On chances of the NCP (SP) and NCP coming closer or reuniting, Fadnavis said, "If you see the developments that took place from 2019 to 2024, I realised never say never and anything can happen. Uddhav Thackeray goes to some other party and Ajit Pawar comes to us. In politics anything can happen though I am not saying this should happen."
He praised BJP leader Arun Gujarati from whom he learnt patience, which he claimed was an important quality in politics along with the ability to take criticism.
In a lighter vein, he said, "I only get angry when I am hungry. If you see me angry then give me something to eat and my anger will go away."
