Corporations Should Leave Like Colonialism Left our Nation – Hiremath
Mangaluru: An interaction on ‘Big Ticket Projects, Corruption, and Need for true Nationalism’ with campaigner and activist, S R Hiremath was held at Sahodaya, KACES campus here, on April 4.
The interaction was organised by Citizens Forum for Mangaluru Development. Speaking on the occasion, Hiremath said that well-known activists like Martin Luther King Jr and Nelson Mandela had taken inspiration from India and the next generation had the responsibility of carrying the legacy forward.
Citing the issue with the rehabilitation of the displaced people owing to the construction of Bhakra Nangal dam, Hiremath said, “We have to learn from the previous big projects and not repeat the same mistakes. Our freedom struggle will be successful only if we have equality among all.”
The public is the custodian of democracy and the leaders are public servants. “It is our duty to make sure that the public servants work. We have the required tools to fight corruption and even a judge cannot jail you if you are working as per the constitution because even the judge is a public servant,” he added.
He strongly vouched for co-operatives and said, “We need co-operatives in the economic arena just as we have Panchayats in the political arena. Big corporations must leave the nation just like colonialism left us because corporations are only focused on the welfare of the shareholders. There is a nexus of state and money power which is ruining the common people.” He said that economic greed was the reason for all the natural anomalies.
Hiremath said, “The agricultural and forest land should not be used for any other purpose, we need a land use policy so that we are self-sufficient in production of food and no other country holds us at ransom, formation of state and national land commission and replacement of corporations with co-operatives is the only way to development.”
“The corporate own the state money to the tune of Rs 5 lakh crores, the money belongs to us and that is why we must stop feeding them anymore. We need to learn the teachings of Socrates, Confucius, and Buddha which asks us to live and let others live,” he said. It was time that we asked our elected representatives to adhere to our conditions or get down from the chair.
Old Soviet Union mindset is still alive and vibrant in India. The crony capitalism is not same as free-market capitalism. Unfortunately, most of this hatred from communist-socialists comes from the mess created by crony capitalism. I don’t think we want to go back to ‘let-us-all-be-poor-and-equal’ mindset.