Recommend to the Centre to name Hubballi Airport after Basaveshwara, State government urged

Leaders of Veerashaiva Lingayat, Somavamsha Sahasrarjun Kshatriya, Jain and Maratha communities come together to say that naming it after the great reformer will be a befitting tribute to him

Leaders of Veerashaiva Lingayat, Somavamsha Sahasrarjun Kshatriya, Jain and Maratha communities have urged the State government to recommend to the Union government recommending to name the Hubballi Airport after 12th century reformer Basaveshwara.

Addressing a joint press conference in Hubballi on Thursday, Veerashaiva Lingayat leader Sharanappa Kotagi, Jain leader Parasmal Jain, Somavamsha Sahasrarjun Kshatriya leader Satish Meharwade, Maratha leader Mahesh Dabade and Raddi Lingayat community leader Mohan Hosamani and Uttar Karnataka Pragatipara Sangha’s Gangadhar Doddawad made this appeal to the State and Central governments.

Mr. Kotagi, who is also State president of Union of Veerashaiva Lingayat Sub Sects, said that Basaveshwara initiated a social revolution in the 12th century with the objective of creating an egalitarian society where everyone has equal opportunities and rights. Naming the Hubballi Airport after the great reformer will be a befitting tribute to him, he said.

Mr. Kotagi said that it is not the Lingayat community alone but members of Jain, Somavamsha Sahasrarjun Kshatriya, Maratha and other communities who have great respect for Basaveshwara also want the Hubballi Airport to be named after the reformer.

“We all, along with several others, will submit a he memorandum in this regard to Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, Union Minister Pralhad Joshi, Chairman of Legislative Council Basavaraj Horatti, the former Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar and request them to take it up with the Union Ministers concerned and Prime Minister Narendra Modi to get the airport named accordingly,” he said.

Mr. Parasmal Jain, Mr. Satish Meharwade and Mr. Mahesh Dabade said that they will urge the State and Union Ministers to name the airport after Basaveshwara as he stood for all and spread the message of treating everyone as equal.

They said that they will also urge the concerned to install an equestrian statue of Basaveshwara in front of the airport in Hubballi and install a bigger equestrian statue of his at Gulabi Vana (Basava Vana) in Hubballi as the statue that was there has been temporarily shifted to facilitate the construction of a flyover.