Daijiworld Media Network - Udupi (SP)

Udupi, Jan 30: An organization named National Hindu Movement urged Kuvempu University to withdraw its decision to confer doctorate on Prof K S Bhagavan, who it said, has hurt the sentiments of Hindus by passing derogatory comments about Bhagavad Gita.

Members of the said organization held protest demonstration opposite service bus stand here in this respect on Sunday January 29.

Vijay Kumar representing Hindu Janajagruti Samiti, speaking on the occasion, recalled that Prof K S Bhagavan had said in Mysuru in 2015 that Bhagavad Gita happens to be the most unholy and insulting book, thus hurting the sentiments of the Hindus. People had expressed anguish against these utterances on a large scale then. He termed the decision taken by Kuvempu University to award doctorate to Bhagavan as unfortunate which will pain Hindus.

Dinesh C Naik of Hindu Vidhijna Parishad, who noted that Uttarakhand chief minister, Harish Rawat, has announced a decision to give time to workers from all religions to pray during duty hours, criticized the move. He said that prayers are a matter of individual beliefs and providing time during duty hours for offering prayer is totally unacceptable. He called for withdrawing this decision. He also said that the 12th standard text book on political science prepared by National Council of Educational Research and Training mentions that the Gujarat disturbances were anti-Muslim. He wanted this matter to be deleted as this wrong information is likely to vitiate the minds of the young students.

The protesters also urged the government to appoint permanent, capable administrative Officers to leading temples of the state like Lord Subrahmanya temple, Durgaparameshwari temple Mandarti, Kollur Mookambika temple and Mysuru Chamundeshwari temple among others. "These temples bring crores of rupees to the government, but because they are handled now by officials who are in no way connected with the department of religious endowments, the management and progress of these temples are suffering," they said.

Religious leaders like Ramesh Pelathur, Naveen Kumar, Satish Kini, Gururaj, Prakash and others were present.