The 12 th century poet, philosopher and social reformer, Basaveshwara was the first to profess and practice democracy and equality and Mahatma Gandhi had several similarities, Minister for Finance and Health T. Harish Rao said here on Sunday.
It was Basaveshwara who introduced the concept of Parliament to discuss gender and social discrimination, superstitions, rituals and spiritual ideas by inviting representatives of all sections of the society irrespective of caste, creed and religion. He also fought for women’s education, empowerment and equality and founded Lingayat faith open to all castes and communities.
Speaking after laying foundation stone for construction of Basava Bhavan on the one-acre land allotted by the State government at Kokapet here, he said it was Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao who had decided to celebrate Basava Jayanti officially since 2016 and had also installed his statue on Tank Bund. Besides, the life of Basaveshwara was also included in high school syllabus.
