Former Union Minister M. Veerappa Moily said here on Friday that the uneven distribution of income among countrymen is shocking and the Union government has failed to address it in the last nine years.
Speaking at a seminar on ‘Equity for all - Relevance of Gandhian thoughts’ and ‘Honesty and integrity in civil service’ and at a function organised to release two books at the University College, Mr. Moily claimed that country’s economic status was also coming down. “We are now sitting on the volcano of unfulfilled aspirations of countrymen. This volcano can erupt at any time,” he said. The high net-worth citizens are sending their children abroad because of lack of growth opportunities in the country, he added.
Mr. Moily said among the fundamental duties enshrined in the Constitution is preserving composite culture. Sadly, the present government has failed in this duty. Vasudaiva Kutumbakam and brotherhood is under threat at present, he said.
Former Kerala Education Minister and Communist Party of India (Marxist) Politburo member M.A. Baby said Mahatma Gandhi believed in the theory of trusteeship for making of an egalitarian society, under which whatever wealth a corporate body earns through justifiable means was meant to be used for the welfare of people.
Mr. Baby said the assets of the country were now being handed to a few persons. “The country is being presented to a few persons. You know them and I am not mentioning the names,” he said. There is a need to sharpen democratic movement. The ideals of Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru should be realised by society, he added..
Earlier, Mr. Moily remembered his younger days and said he was greatly influenced by the Communist ideology seeing the working of A. Krishna Shetty, the first CPI(M) MLA from Mangalore-2 (present Mangaluru) constituency, and also hearing speeches of A.K. Gopalan and EMS Namboodiripad. His fights against capitation fee (in professional colleges) and liquor lobby was the result of his belief in communist ideology, Mr. Moily said.
Mr. Baby said books on stalwarts like Krishna Shetty should be part of the syllabus. “There is a lot for youth to learn from the life and struggles of these stalwarts,” he said.
Earlier, two Kannada books Samanathegagi Sangharsha on A. Krishna Shetty, who was involved in the freedom struggle, and Mannige Maralua Munna, autobiography of former KAS officer K. Pramod Kumar Rai, were released. Former MP P. Karunakaran, Mr. Gopalan’s daughter Laila Karunakaran, former Additional Chief Secretary V. Balasubramanian, and former member of Central Administrative Tribunal Sudheer Kumar also spoke.
