Efforts on to float Lingayat forum to press for religion status

Lingayat community leader Sanjay Makal addressing a press conference in Kalaburagi on Monday.

To take the demand for a separate and independent religion status for Lingayats to a logical end, leaders from the community are planning to float an all-India platform bringing all outfits dedicated to the community under it.

Addressing a press conference on Monday, leaders from the Lingayat community said a final decision on the matter would be taken after the Akhila Bharata Veerashaiva Mahasabha’s final stand at a meeting scheduled for August 10 in Bengaluru.

At present, the Mahasabha holds Veerashaivas and Lingayats as one and the same and is demanding independent religion status for Veerashaiva/Lingayat as a singular sect. “We hold that Veerashaiva and Lingayat as different and hence demand independent status for the Lingayat community. A meeting of leaders representing both will be convened in Bengaluru on August 10. If the Veerashaiva Mahasabha continues to adhere to its stand, we will begin to float an Akhila Bharata Linghayat Mahasabha bringing all Lingayat organisations and religious institutions together,” said Sanjay Makal, a Lingayat leader.

He added that influential Lingayat community leaders and mutts would be roped in to convince all Lingayat leaders serving as office-bearers of the Veerashaiva Mahasabha to join the new outfit.

Argument dismissed

Dismissing scholar M. Chidananda Murthy’s arguments on the issue, Mr. Makal said the former has frequently changed his stand on the matter. “There is no consistency in his arguments. His stand changes as per the demands of the situation. His arguments are not supported by any documentary evidence,” Mr. Makal said.

Mr. Murthy has argued that both Veerashaiva and Lingayat are the same and belong to the Hindu fold.

Pointing at two failed attempts of the Veerashaiva Mahasabha to get an independent religion tag for Veerashaiva/Lingayat, Mr. Makal said future attempts too would meet a similar same end if the two “diagonally opposite sects continued to be seen as a single entity”.

“Veerashaiva upholds and practises the principles advocated by the vedas, aagamas, shastras, puranas and other texts that are part of Hindu religion. Based on this, earlier applications for religion tag to Veerashaiva/Lingayat were rejected outright. If we demand independent religion status to Lingayat alone, we will be successful as the demand has solid material base,” he said.