NEW DELHI: Sacred soil from across Karnataka has reached the feet of Kempegowda and is being used in the gopuras surrounding the Statue of Prosperity. The “holy soil collection” programme of the Karnataka government, as part of its initiative to unveil the ‘Statue of Prosperity’ in memory of Nadaprabhu Kempegowda, has virtually become a Thanksgiving moment for the people.
Vice-Chairman of the Kempegowda Heritage Area Development Authority Dr C N Ashwath Narayan, who is also Higher Education Minister and Vokkaliga leader, spearheaded the campaign. ‘Kempegowda Rathas’ fanned out across the state, covering villages and towns and reportedly traveling 22,000 kilometres. Widespread enthusiasm was shown by villagers during the exercise.
“In Indian culture, it is believed that the people are intimately connected to the land they live on. The belief in the BJP is that only with the people’s blessings can any project be carried out on scale, and hence the idea to collect sacred soil from across Karnataka for the statue, as that would be a proof of validation for the whole project”, said Dr Ashwathnarayan.
The collected soil, now stored in Bengaluru, is being used to create the foundations for the four gopuras, or watch towers, that will flank the statue of Kempegowda in all four directions. For the uninitiated, the gopura of Kempegowda is the emblem of the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP).
The Statue of Prosperity, while celebrating the founder of Bengaluru, also looks to co-opt the Vokkaliga community to which Kempegowda belonged, into the nationalist-development narrative of the BJP. The Vokkaliga community has largely been seen to be represented by the JD(S). The BJP is looking to woo this social segment, just like Kempegowda did with his brilliantly productive social engineering based on the principles of harmony and equality.
With the unveiling of Kempegowda’s ‘Statue of Prosperity’ by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, preceded by a successful election campaign, the BJP party has now blown their poll bugle in Karnataka. Ramachandra, a community leader, opined, “In 1952, Kengal Hanumanthaiah built the Vidhana Soudha. In 2005, S M Krishna built the Vikasa Soudha. In 2022, Dr Ashwath Narayan built the Kempegowda’s statue. With this, the BJP has started to win the hearts of Vokkaligas”.
The BJP’s “success” appears to have shaken the JD(S), which bills itself as the only party that represents the Vokkaligas and the “sons of the soil”. Elections to the Karnataka Assembly are due in a few months, and the jury is out on whether this move will endear the Vokkaligas to the BJP. (ANI/SRV)