Emphasising on reading the preamble of the Indian Constitution in educational institutions as part of efforts to preserve and protect the Constitution, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said it is imperative to protect the Constitution to create equality, build social democracy, and protect the dignity of every individual.
He was addressing a gathering after inaugurating the three-day Hampi Utsav in the newly formed Vijayanagara district on Friday night.
Mr. Siddaramaiah said that the fundamental principles of 12th Century social reformer Basaveshwara’s vachanas are complementary to the intent of the Constitution. The constitution as framed by B.R. Ambedkar envisages the kind of society we must create and the kind of individuals we should be, he said.
“Though communal forces are attempting to disturb social harmony and trying to divide people on the basis of caste, one should not hate another human being. We have launched a month-long State-wide Constitution awareness programme to make people, particularly youth, read the preamble of the Constitution that helps them understand what makes a good person,” Mr. Siddaramaiah said.
Lashing out at the critics of the five guarantee schemes introduced by the Congress government, Mr. Siddaramaiah said that the few vested interests were engaged in false propaganda about the guarantee schemes and now they themselves were adapting the schemes.
“Our government is adapting the principles of social justice in the accumulation of wealth and its distribution. The BJP-led Central government was helping few capitalists to accumulate the country’s resources, hence, we introduced the five guarantees on the basis of Universal Basic Income to improve the socio-economic conditions of the people,” he said.
Accusing the Centre of providing a lesser share of returns to Karnataka in terms of GST tax, he said that though Karnataka is the second-highest tax paying State in the nation with ₹4 lakh crore in the form of taxes and duties to the Centre, in return we are getting only ₹50,000 crore from the Centre, he added.
Mr. Siddaramaiah appealed to the people to support the Congress in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. Home Minister G. Parameshwara, Housing and Minorities Welfare Minister B.Z. Zameer Ahmed Khan, Minister for Youth Empowerment and sports B. Nagendra, Kannada and Culture Department Minister Shivaraj Tangadagi, KKRDB chairman Ajay Singh, and others were present.
