Karnataka to launch campaign against untouchability in December

BENGALURU: With an aim to create awareness against the practice of untouchability, the Karnataka government is all set to launch ‘Vinaya Samarasya’ campaign in the second week of December, said Minister for Social Welfare and Backward Classes Kota Srinivas Poojary.

He said the campaign will be launched at the Gram Panchayat level across the state. Poojary held a meeting with officials through video conferencing on Thursday in this regard. Presently, he is under medication and has been admitted to a private hospital in Udupi.

In a press statement, the minister stated that it is more important to create awareness among those who practice untouchability rather than those who are at the receiving end. Religious heads from various mutts, specially from non-Dalit communities, will be roped into the campaign, he said. An event is expected to be held at Bengaluru or Koppala and the date will be announced soon.

Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai is expected to launch the initiative. It may be recalled that in September 2021, a Dalit family was fined Rs 25,000 after their two-year-old son Vinay entered a temple premises at Miyapur village in Kushtagi taluk in Koppal in North Karnataka.

This was widely criticised by people, political parties and many organisations. It was then that the State government decided to launch this initiative and named it after the toddler - Vinaya Samarasya.