Kodavas need to band together to defend their rights, says MLA AS Ponnanna
To defend their rights, the Kodava community has to band together. Our forefathers battled to save our homeland and way of life. Let’s keep fighting. However, stand up for your rights and refrain from disparaging other groups or faiths. “Love every community,” said AS Ponnanna, the MLA for Virajpet.
He was giving a speech on Friday in Madikeri at the Global Kodava Summit’s inaugural ceremony, which was hosted by the Connecting Kodavas Trust organization.
Ponnanna was grateful for the trust’s efforts to unite the neighborhood. “Let there be resolutions formed in this summit on what our rights are and what needs to be done to preserve the community,” he added, urging the trust to provide the groundwork for the legitimate expression of the demands of the communities. “I pledge to provide my utmost assistance in achieving these resolutions,” he said.
He believed that in order to gain popular support for the battle for rights, political maturity was necessary. He emphasized that the issues that need to be tackled together under strong leadership include the land concerns pertaining to Jamma land, the protection of gun rights, and ethnographic research. He advocated for the land, environment, people, and culture to be preserved.
The primary guest, MLC Shantharam Budna Siddi, encouraged the young people to volunteer for the community. He pledged to continue supporting the Kodavas’ ST tag struggle in the legislature. The community was exhorted to prioritize education and cherish cultural values by Chethan Singhai, Chief Consultant of the National Curriculum-Ministry of Education. He urged everyone to concentrate on the neighborhood, which is, in his opinion, deeply ingrained in values. Human rights advocate Rashmi Samath urged the youth to return to their origins.
