The six-month-old movement seeking a separate religion status for Lingayats took a new twist on Monday, with the Lingayat Mahasabha asking the two national parties to take a decision.
While the mahasabha challenged the BJP State leaders to get the minority religion tag to Veerashaiva/Lingayats by pressuring the Union government, it also urged the Congress government in Karnataka to take a call on the issue by May 2018.
Principal coordinator of the movement S. M. Jamdar told reporters: “Since granting separate religion status under the present State law is not possible, we are seeking minority status for Lingayats under the Karnataka State Minority Commission Act 1994, section 9-H. The Karnataka government has the power to sanction the status under that provision”.
He added that as previous attempts to get a separate religion tag under the nomenclature ‘Veerashaiva/ Lingayat’ failed, the mahasabha was demanding status under the name of the Lingayat community, citing that Lingayat was recognised as separate religion until the 1881 Census of the then Mysuru State.
Basavaraj Horatti, mahasabha leader and MLC, said: “If the State BJP leaders, who are supporting separate religion status under the Veerashaiva/ Lingayat nomenclature, succeed in their effort, the mahasabha has no objection, as the intention of our movement is getting justice to the Veerashaiva and Lingayat community”.
Reiterating that the movement is ‘apolitical’ he said, in no uncertain terms, that the Congress party had to take a call on the issue by May 2018, before the polls.
Undeterred by the protest threat by seers of Pancha Peetha, if government failed to rescind the expert committee constituted to make recommendations on according religious minority status to Lingayats/Veerashaiva community within four weeks, Mr. Horatti said that the committee was set up following representation by five interested parties, including seers of Pancha Peetha. “ Now they are seeking the repeal of the committee, as they don’t have empirical evidence to substantiate their stand,” he said.
Holding the seers of Pancha Peetha responsible for the community not getting the minority religion status, he regretted the language being used by them to criticise leaders.
Further defending the committee, he said that none of the members were from the Lingayat or the Veerashaiva community. “Anyone can question the Cabinet decision or committees report in the different constitutional platforms,” he explained.
