Bengaluru: Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramiah on Wednesday said that education makes us independent and frees us from exploitation.

"For thousands of years, we were all deprived of literacy culture. After the arrival of the British, educational opportunities opened up. Because of Dr. B.R Ambedkar, education became a basic right for all the deprived. This is why we all need to be educated. Education makes us self-respecting. If you have self-respect, you can escape from exploitation. Education makes us independent and frees us from exploitation", CM Siddaramiah said while speaking at the inauguration event of Banjara Bhawan, organized by Karnataka Pradesh Banjara (Lambani) Seva Sangh in collaboration with Karnataka Tanda Development Corporation in Karnataka's Bengaluru.

The Chief Minister presented a list of the contributions made by the Congress government for the development of the Banjara community, stating, "It was our government which celebrated Sevalal Jayanti, it was our government that converted Tandas into revenue villages".

It is worth mentioning that Sevalal Mutt is deemed to be the 'spiritual Guru' of the Banjara community. He was a social reformer.

Meanwhile, CM Siddaramiah promised that five thousand more 'Tandas' would be converted into revenue villages.

"We wrote the foreword for converting Tandas into revenue villages. But BJP is claiming that they did our work', said the Karnataka CM.

"Rs 275 crore was given in the budget for the development of Banjara community. We will give money for other demands including Sevalal residential school in a phased manner in the coming days", he added.

Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar inaugurated the programme.

Deputy Speaker of the Legislative Assembly Rudrappa Manappa Lamani unveiled the statue of Sewalal. Banjara Handicraft Exhibition was inaugurated by Social Welfare Minister Dr. H.C Mahadevappa.

MLC Prakash Rathod, MLAs Nemiraja Naik, Avinash Jadhav, Banjara Seva Sangh's General Secretary H.B.Siddya Naik, Ex-MLA B.T. Lalitha Nayak, CM's Political Secretary Govidaraju and others were present at the event.