The last rites of poet Siddalingaiah were held at Kalagrama, part of Jnana Bharathi campus of Bangalore University, on Saturday.
Dalit Sangharsha Samiti Okkoota had made the demand for the last rites there and also sought a memorial to be built for the poet at the site.
However, many opposed the last rites of the poet being held at Kalagrama, where funeral of writers G.S. Shivarudrappa and U.R. Ananthamurthy were also held earlier.
C. Basavalingaiah, Director, National School of Drama Centre, Bengaluru, said, “Kalagrama has to be reserved for cultural activities. Earlier too the government conducted the last rites of writers there without any consultation on the land allotted for NSD, Bengaluru centre. No memorials have been built at these places as promised, and the place is in a state of utter neglect. We don’t want poet Siddalingaiah’s memorial also to attain the same fate,” he said.
