The Jagathika Lingayat Mahasabha (JLM), which is spearheading the movement demanding minority religion tag for the community, has decided to up the ante on the issue following the development in the High Court of Karnataka. It has decided to take it forward legally and through mobilisation.
JLM national general secretary S.M. Jamdar said on Monday that the two reasons cited by the Centre for its inability to accord minority religion tag to the community clearly showed that the authorities concerned had not studied the documents and evidence submitted by the Mahasabha.
Dismissing the contention that the demand had been raised and rejected earlier, Mr. Jamdar said that the detailed proposal with evidence sent by the State Minorities Welfare Department was the first of its kind.
He also disputed the contention that Lingayats have always been classified under Hindus since the 1871 Census. Mr. Jamdar furnished a report of the Mysore General Census of 1871 that said that “Lingayat is a numerous class, or rather a religion composed of nearly all castes, but so commonly used by ignorant people as a caste name that care will be necessary to obtain the individual’s proper caste division and enter him as Lingayat religion”.
He also claimed that there was no precedence of members losing their Scheduled Caste status on getting minority religion tag. “When Sikhs got separate religion tag in 1963 and when Buddhists got it in 1993, their SC benefits were extended. Hence, Lingayats will not be lose their SC benefit,” he said.
Mr. Jamdar also said the JLM would appeal to the government to approach either the High Court or the Supreme Court citing the flaws in the arguments of the National Commission for Minorities. “Regardless of the government approaching the court or not, the JLM will approach it and take forward this people’s movement,” he said.
Resolution
At the three-day national convention of Lingayats under way in New Delhi, the Centre’s decision was vociferously condemned.
The convention, led by Mathe Mahadevi and scores of seers of the Lingayat community, was organised in the national capital mainly to get the Centre’s nod for the State government’s recommendation sent over six months ago. With the Centre’s rejection of the proposal, the convention is all set to become a platform for chalking out the next course of action. Mathe Mahadevi announced they would intensify the agitation.
