'Once a symbol of unity, the word 'one' is now used to unleash terror'

Bengaluru: The word ‘one’ is increasingly being used to unleash terror in the country. There is a growing fear that diversity is being erased by pushing for ‘one language, one election, one religion, one ideology and one political party, according to noted Kannada writer and cultural critic Rahamat Tarikere. 

He was speaking at ‘Fissures in Indian Federalism’, a panel discussion during Gauri Day, organised by Gauri Memorial Trust in memory of slain journalist andactivist Gauri Lankesh, on Thursday. 

“During the freedom struggle and the Karnataka unification movements, the word ‘one’ symbolised unity. But now, it has been changed to be an obstacle to plurality and the federal system. We must confront this terrorism,” Tarikere said. Talking about Prof MM Kalburgi and Gauri Lankesh, he called them “advocates of the federal system”. 

The imposition of Sanskrit, Hindi, the education system, taxation and capitalist policies on Kannadatva (Kannada identity) is detrimental to the federal structure. Kalburgi and Gauri raised their voices against it. Their murders are essentially the killing of the aspirations of the federal system,” he said. 

Prof R Ramakumar, from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, said: “The NDA government is doing everything to suppress the economic rights of states in the federal system. It is reducing the states’ share in tax revenues and portraying states that assert their rights as anti-national.” 

Writer and social activist Prof Meenakshi Bali said: “The BJP government is so opposed to the federal system that when BJP chief minister Yediyurappa went to Delhi seeking aid during a severe flood, neither Narendra Modi nor Amit Shah even spoke to him. He returned empty-handed. This shows how the BJP is weakening the federal structure in legislation, governance and economics.”

She suggested that the Modi government had “enslaved” the Governor, who was supposed to be the link between the Centre and the state in the federal system.