Mangaluru : Anti-corruption crusader and Samaja Parivartana Samudaya President S R Hiremath said the nexus between money power and power of the state is spoiling the lives of common people and has led to corruption and inequality in the society.

At an interaction on ‘Big Ticket Projects, Corruption and the Need for True Nationalism’ organised by Citizens Forum for Mangalore Development at KACES campus at Balmatta here on Monday, he said today’s corporate companies represent real economic colonialism.

The corporate houses are compelling people to be economic slaves. Corporate colonialism must go in order to achieve economic independence. Also, cooperative movements need a boost, he said.

Hiremath questioned the purpose of earmarking crores of rupees as subsidies for corporate companies. He urged the government to recover the dues from business tycoons and said that the country has a faulty economic model.

He said caste system is a man-made inequality. Quoting Dr B R Ambedkar, he said, “We need to eliminate inequality or else our political freedom will be in peril.

The democracy is at crossroads today as the elected representatives have forgotten that people are the final custodians of democracy. Our representatives both in state and at the centre, better realise that they are public servants and people are paying them.”

Hiremath urged the Union government to frame land use policy which prohibits the use of agricultural and forest land for non-agricultural purposes.

He also sough the constitution of land commissions at the state and the central levels.