Grama swaraj, decentralization Gandhi’s dreams, says Siddu

Maqsood Maniyar | NT

Bengaluru: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said that ‘Grama Swaraj’ (freedom of the village) and decentralization were the visions of Mahatma Gandhi.

He made the remarks at the inauguration of the 2023 Gandhi Gram Puraskar award ceremony and Swachh Sarvekshan Rural State level award distribution programme organized by the Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Department (RDPR) held at the Banquet Hall in Vidhana Soudha on Monday.

Siddaramaiah distributed awards to 233 gram panchayats with a cash prize to each of them under the former programme.

On the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti, the CM added that the State government’s schemes such as Shakti, which enabled women to travel for free in most government buses and Gruha Lakshmi, under which women got a Rs 2,000 monthly allowance, were based on Gandhian principles as he believed in women’s empowerment.

He also recognized former Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri as the “most honest politician” as it was his birth anniversary as well. “Decentralization was Gandhi's dream.

This is the only way democracy can succeed. He believed that this was the only way development of the country and the state would be possible. Thus he advocated ‘grama swaraj’.

It was Gandhiji's vision that the country cannot develop without the development of villages,” Siddaramaiah said.

The CM said that decentralization should be at four levels, namely country, state, district and village.

“Former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi as per the aspirations of Mahatma Gandhi wrote a preface for decentralization. It was Rajiv Gandhi who amended the constitution for democratic decentralization and former Prime Minister Narasimha Rao implemented it,” he said, adding that Rajiv also implemented 50 per cent reservation for women in local bodies and panchayats.

“It is the Congress that has written the rationale for political reservation for women, which is now claimed to have been implemented by the central government. Now it is our insistence that reservation should be made for backward class women as well,” the CM said.

Village Courts to be set up

Siddaramaiah said that the State government has given serious consideration to the setting up of village courts with the ambition that the disputes of the villages should be settled at the local level.

“According to Mahatma Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi's vision of village swaraj and decentralization of power, establishment of village courts will be of great benefit to the villagers,” he said.

“Khadi-village industries will be developed. Steps will be taken to expand the market for gramodyoga products,” he added.

Beware of Godse followers: CM

The CM also took a dig at believers of “Godse’s ideology” referring to Gandhi’s assassin Nathuram Godse, likely referring to Hindu Mahasabha and similar right wing extremist groups who regard Godse as a hero. “It was Rabindranath Tagore who gave him the title of Mahatma. Subhash Chandra Bose called him the Father of the Nation. He worked for peace and harmony in the country till the end of his life but he died because of the fanaticism of Nathuram Godse. It is regrettable that there are people who worship Nathuram in this country. We should be aware of such people,” Siddaramaiah said.