K'taka govt gives nod to Anubhava Mantapa at a cost of Rs 532 crore in Basavakalyan
Bengaluru (PTI): The Karnataka government on Thursday approved the project for construction of Anubhava Mantapa at a cost of Rs 532 crore.
The decision was taken at a meeting of the Basavakalyan Development Board chaired by Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai.
"The state government has given its approval for construction of Anubhava Mantapa, which has been taken up by Basavakalyan Development Board, at a cost of Rs 532 cr. The Chief Minister instructed for completion of the works within three years," the government said in an official release.
Anubhava Mantapa is a revolutionary forum formed by 12th century social reformer Basaveshwara. He had tried to eradicate social inequities and discriminations through Anubhava Mantapa.
The Anubhava Mantapa would be built in an apt form to reflect the social revolution brought about by Basaveshwara, the statement said adding, the Mantapa would have facilities to exhibit short films and pictures on the life and ideals of the social reformer and other visionary social thinkers of that era who propagated their thoughts through Vachana Sahitya' (poetic saying).
Basavakalyan is an important religious site in Bidar district of northern Karnataka bordering Maharashtra, for the dominant Lingayat community, to which Chief Minister Bommai and his predecessor B S Yediyurappa belong.
The move comes a year ahead of the assembly elections in Karnataka.
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Congress using hijab issue to pacify minority anger, alleges Karnataka LoP R Ashoka
Bengaluru: Leader of Opposition in the Assembly R. Ashoka has accused the Congress government of using the hijab issue to placate what he described as discontent among minority voters after the Davanagere by-election.
In a post on X on Wednesday, Ashoka alleged that the state government, instead of addressing issues such as price rise, corruption, farmers’ distress and law and order, was attempting to retain its minority vote base by reviving the hijab issue.
Referring to the 2022 dress code introduced by the BJP government, which prohibited hijab in schools and colleges, Ashoka said the Karnataka High Court had upheld the policy and emphasised the importance of discipline in educational institutions.
He questioned the Congress government’s move to revisit the issue and asked whether setting aside the court-backed policy to benefit one community could be described as secularism.
Ashoka further alleged that while the government was willing to permit hijab, it continued to prohibit saffron shawls.
He accused the government of dividing students on religious lines rather than treating schools and colleges as spaces of equality.
Drawing a comparison with Mamata Banerjee’s government in West Bengal, Ashoka claimed that excessive appeasement politics had harmed the state and warned that the Congress in Karnataka could face a similar political response.
He said voters in Karnataka would teach the Congress a lesson for what he termed “vote-bank politics” and for compromising constitutional and judicial principles.
