Pranavanand Swami of Narayana Guru Shakti Peeth of Kardal village in Chittapur taluk of Kalaburagi district has urged the State government to establish a Sri Narayana Guru Development Board and release ₹500 crore for it. He said that the government should lift the ban on selling hooch which is a hereditary business of the Idiga community.
He was addressing a press conference in Yadgir on Wednesday.
“The long-pending demand of our community to have a development board and also to allow us to sell hooch have not been considered by the State government yet, despite the repeated reminders. The very same government in the State has allowed our community to sell hooch in Dakshina Kannada and Udupi districts but it has banned hooch sales in the rest of the State. Why is this discrimination?” he asked.
He strongly opposed Minister V. Sunil Kumar’s decision to celebrate Narayana Guru Jayanti in Mangaluru instead of in the Vidhana Soudha in Bengaluru and said that Mangaluru is a communally sensitive area having six lakh population of Idiga community.
“The Minister might have planned to get political gain out of the celebrations of Narayana Guru Jayanti. If he wants to celebrate Narayana Guru Jayanti in Mangaluru, then, he has to take action and announce the board and also declare ₹500 crore for it,” he demanded.
