Religious heads of various mutts participating in the Bahutva Samskriti Bharatotsva-2025 in Kalaburagi on Sunday.
| Photo Credit: ARUN KULKARNI

Communal forces are trying to rewrite history by hijacking the legacies of social reformers and politicising freedom fighters but the fact is that they [social reformers and freedom fighters] were against communally divisive forces, progressive thinker Rehmat Tarikere has said.

Addressing a gathering at Bahutva Samskriti Bharatotsava-2025 here on Sunday, Mr. Tarikere said that social reformer Basaveshwara, Swami Vivekananda, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, who thought of building a pluralistic society, have been projected as their icons by communal forces.

Mr. Tarikere said that the new generation should be educated on elements of secularism so society can remain intact from religious fanaticism in the coming future. The young generations should adapt the teachings of the Buddha and Basaveshwara and know the meaning of Tatvapadas. The ideals of secularism are vital as it is an axis on which an entire democracy moves, he said.

Senior journalist Dinesh Amin Mattu said that though B.R. Ambedkar publicly set fire to the Manusmriti back in 1927, even after nearly a 100 years, the RSS is trying to enforce Manusmriti.

He said that secular and democratic forces have failed to stand up and stymie the advance of the fascist forces due to which the RSS has mushroomed across the country today. Mr. Mattu said that secular forces must unite to take on the RSS.

Seer and head of Bhalki Hiremath Basavalinga Pattaddevaru, chairperson of Sharanabasaveshwara Vidya Vardhak Sangha Dakshayini S. Appa, Fr. Stany Lobo of Saint Mary Church, activists R.K. Hudgi, Meenakshi Bali, K. Neela and religious heads of several mutts were present.