MYSORE: Vishwakalyan Mission Charitable Trust (Bangalore) will construct a 111-foot statue of 12th century saint reformer Basavanna at Basavagangotri near Kumbalgodu village off Bangalore-Mysore Road. The project will cost the trust Rs 5 crore, which will be raised from public.
Announcing this at a press meet here, Basava Dharma Peetha chief Mate Mahadevi said that the statue will be built on a 30-foot pedestal, on which Basavanna’s vachanas will be carved. “The project is aimed at spreading the message of the reformer and his social movement,” she said, adding that the statue will come up in a garden at Basavagangotri.
She said that Peetha will also take up the issue of granting a separate religion status to Lingayats “as the Linagayats are neither a caste nor a social group”. “We will chalk out an agitation plan, seeking religion status to Lingayats,” she said, adding that like Jains, Sikhs, Parsis and Buddhists, Lingayats should also be treated as a separate religious lot. “Union government is not aware of the fact that Lingayats have their own traditions, customs and rituals …,” she said, calling upon all Lingayat politicians to bury their differences and seek religion status to them.
Mahadevi said that she is also planning to launch a campaign to educate people on Basavanna’s life and times.
