Mysuru: “I love Kannada and I want to be born here again and again,” said Dr Sudha Murthy, chairperson of the Infosys Foundation, inaugurating the 10-day Dasara extravaganza in Mysuru on Wednesday.
Dressed in a red Mysore silk saree, she offered flowers to the idol of goddess Chamundeswari and lit a traditional lamp in the presence of Chief Minister H D Kumar swamy, Mysuru district in-charge minister, G T Devegowda, and several other ministers, besides state JD(S) head, A. H Vishwanath, BJP MLAs and MP, Pratap Simha.
Paying rich tribute to the maharajas of Mysuru for keeping the Dasara tradition alive, Ms Murthy said “We must be thankful to the royal family of Mysuru for their efforts to protect Kannada culture and language, which would otherwise have become fragmented.”
Recalling the philanthropy of the royals, she said their financial contribution to the Tirupathi temple was huge. As for her own foundation, she said it would build houses for the people, who had lost their homes in the recent floods and landslides in the district at a cost of Rs 25 crore if the state identified sites , built the roads and provided them electricity and water. “We have already developed the Hebbal lake in Mysuru at a cost of Rs 38 crore," she added.
Mr Kumarswamy in his speech appealed to farmers to have faith in the government coming to their rescue and not kill themselves when faced with problems. He promised to come up with several programmes to provide job opportunities. “There is no dearth of funds in the state, but there have been flaws in making the best use of it. I want to correct this. I am here with a dream to protect the people of the state by doing some good work and to ensure they lead peaceful lives,” he said.
Also heaping praise on the Mysuru royal family , the Chief Minister said if old Mysuru had good infrastructure it was thanks to its contributions. Mr G T Devegowda appealed to the government to allocate Rs 500 crore for the development of Mysuru and make it second only to Bengaluru in terms of prominence.
Mr Kumarswamy later handed over a Dasara sports tattoo to noted sports personality, Basavaraj.
