“If we do not defeat Savarkar’s ideology, we will have to face the suffering experienced by the Germans,” said noted Gandhian and theatre person Prasanna.

He was speaking on “Gandhi in Today’s Crisis Situation” in Bengaluru on Sunday. “If we stubbornly cling to ‘my Communist ideology, my Lohiaite ideology, my Socialist ideology, and my Congress ideology’, we must remember that it will be impossible to defeat Savarkar’s ideology,” he said, calling upon diverse forces to come together in this endeavor.

He argued that political power alone was not the solution to the cultural crisis and said that the thoughts of “Gandhi and Ambedkar are extremely crucial on the issue of the annihilation of caste”.

“The reason we all respect Ambedkar is because of the bugle he blew for the annihilation of caste. However, it is a matter of regret that Ambedkar, who blew the war trumpet for the annihilation of caste, is being portrayed as a leader who created caste,” he said, adding that when we observe what is happening among such upper castes today, we are able to understand the cultural interest that Gandhi spoke of.

CPI(M) State secretary Prakash K. said that the Union government was destroying Gandhiji’s vision of decentralisation and stripping States of their powers.

He alleged that attempts to directly centralise Gandhi’s concept of decentralisation was a conspiracy to turn education into a commodity.