A blatant show of disrespect to the Mahatma on his Birth Day

mangaloretoday.com

Mangalore, Oct 4: An incident, which would make Mangaloreans hang their heads in shame, took place in the city on Gandhi Jayanthi Day. It was nothing but ‘Disrespect’ that was what the Father of the Nation got, courtesy a ‘publicity crazy’ on Gandhi Jayanthi Day, in Mangalore. The photograph given here and taken on the occasion of Gandhi Jayanthi celebrated on behalf of the Bharath Seva Dal at the Gandhi Park near Town Hall, says it all.

 

Pradeep Kumar Kalkura, the President of the DK District Kannada Sahitya Parishat  is all smiles with his hand proudly resting on the shoulders of the statue of the Mahatma even as Yogish Bhat, Deputy Speaker was garlanding the statue, probably with his eyes closed. Lest, he would have then and there asked Kalkura to keep his hand away from the statue of the Mahatma.

 

 

For a moment it seemed as if the publicity monger (Kalkura) wanted to prove himself to be on par with the towering personality revered by the whole world.
It’s nothing but heights of disrespect which calls for stern action. But the tragedy is that so far none including the DC who was a step behind, has taken it seriously.

Ironically, another person Basheer Baikampady, a former deputy mayor who is also associated with the Seva Dal and who was standing on the platform was also seen casually resting his hand on the shoulders of the top most officer of the district, the Deputy Commissioner,  as if he was any other passerby.  Such acts on the part of these so called persons are uncalled for and demands stern action.

 

There have been instances earlier when people, to be precise leaders, have been booked for offending the Mahatma. In a case reported from Lucknow in December 2007, a BSP leader of Uttar Pradesh Daya Ram Sen was booked for  showing disrespect to Gandhiji in Ferozabad district. In another case, the latest one, reported from Pali district in Rajasthan, Badri Ram Jakhar, a local Congress MP from the area, garlanded Mahatma Gandhi’s statue in the town square, raised slogans, and then to everybody’s surprise used the head of Mahatma Gandhi’s statue as a hand-rest to help him maintain his balance before getting down from the dais.

In the case of Mangalore, what was Kalkura trying to prove? What message he and Basheer Baikampady were conveying to the people as well as the hundreds of Seva Dal children who had gathered there and were watching them?