Hyderabad: Assembly Speaker Pocharam Srinivas Reddy said the constituent assembly that drafted the constitution was inspired by Mahatma Sri Basaveshwara. He was speaking at Lord Basaveshwara Jayanti celebrations organised by the state government in coordination with the Telangana Veerashaiva Lingayat Federation (TVLF) at the Ravindra Bharathi auditorium on Tuesday.
Minister V. Srinivas Goud said Telangana was the only state to celebrate Basava Jayanti apart from Karnataka, thanks to the leadership of Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao. He expressed dissatisfaction over the prevailing caste discrimination and gender inequalities in the society, in contrast to the preaching of Lord Basaveshwara. “Unfortunately, the Centre has been sitting on the recommendation to give OBC status to the Veerashaiva Lingayat community.”
Home minister Mahmood Ali expressed happiness over celebrating two festivals on the same day, Basava Jayanti and Id-ul-Fitr. Minister T. Srinivas Yadav lauded the efforts of MP B.B. Patil in convincing the state government to officially celebrate the Basava Jayanti.
Patil thanked the state government for allotting land and sanctioning Rs 10 crore funds for constructing the Basava Bhavan at Kokapet. “I am pleased to say that the building would be inaugurated within a month’s time in the presence of Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao.”
B. Hanmanth, president of the TVLF thanked the state government for installing the statue of Basaveshwara on Tank Bund. Earlier in the day, prayers were offered at the statue.
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