Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah inaugurated Brahmashri Narayan Guru Jayanti on Thursday and said that creating caste religious conflict in the name of god is an insult to god.

He was speaking at the inauguration of Brahmashri Narayan Guru Jayanti, which was organized by the Department of Kannada and Culture at Ravindra Kala Kshetra.
CM Siddaramaiah said that the forces that created conflict between castes and religions existed during the Narayan Guru period too. They exist even now. Narayan Guru brought about a wide change in society without causing conflict.

“All are one in God’s eyes. Taking off shirts before entering temples is inhuman in God’s eyes. To discriminate against God is an insult to God. The perversion of creating caste and religious conflict in the name of God is still being practised. Narayana Guru found a different practice for this discrimination. ‘Do not go to temples where you are not allowed’, but, ‘build a temple for your gods and worship them.’ As a result of this revolutionary religious movement of social reform, 60 temples were built in Kerala. The Shudra and Dalit communities who had no access to the rest of the temples were made to enter the temples built by him,” Siddaramaiah said.
The CM cited many instances where Narayana Guru revolutionized the system.
“The Shudra-Dalit community must be educated to become independent, organized and strong. This was the highest mission given by Narayan Guru. Narayana Guru does not belong to any caste or religion. He was a universal man who transcended the discrimination of caste and religion. Therefore, I decided to issue an order to celebrate the birth anniversary of Vishwa Manava Narayan Guru,” Siddaramaih added.

Kannada and Culture Minister Shivraj Thangadagi, Minister Madhu Bangarappa, MLAs Gopalakrishna Belur, H.R. Gaviyappa, President of Arya Ediga Samaj Dr. M. Thimmegowda were present as chief guests. Vikhyathananda Swamiji of Soluru Arya Ediga Mahasamsthan held the divine presence.