The Union government on Monday told the Karnataka High Court that it had already communicated to the State government that it was not possible to accede to the State’s recommendation to grant minority religion status to Lingayat/Veerashaiva community.
The Ministry of Minority Affairs (MMA) of the Union government submitted before the court a copy of the letter, dated November 13, 2018, sent to the State government, in which the MMA reiterated its earlier stand that the Lingayat/Veerashaiva community is considered as “a religious sect of Hindus”.
The communication was submitted to the court during the hearing of petitions questioning the actions taken by the State government and Karnataka State Minorities Commission (KSMC) for grant of minority religion status to Lingayats/Veerashaivas.
“The demand for separate status by Lingayats and Veerashaivas has been considered earlier also and it was observed that Lingayat has always been classified under Hindus ever since 1871 census, the 1st official census in India and that Lingayat is considered as a religious sect of Hindu,” the MMA wrote to the State following consultations with the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and the National Commission for Minorities (NCM).
“If Lingayat/Veerashaiva were to be treated as a separate religion by providing separate code other than Hindu, all members of the Scheduled Caste (SC) professing the said religion would lose their status as SC along with the consequential benefits available to them as SC,” the MMA said, while quoting the view expressed by the MHA and the NCM.
The MHA, in its letter dated August 24, 2018, had informed the MMA that “...recognition of Lingayats and Veerashaivas as a separate religion has been considered in detail in consultation with the Registrar-General of India (RGI). It has been observed that in the census operations conducted by the RGI, the Veerashaiva-Lingayat have been consistently classified as a sect of Hindus”.
“Taking into account the views of MHA and NCM, it may not be possible for the Ministry to accede to the request of Government of Karnataka,” the MMA said in its letter.
The State government, on March 23, 2018 had recommended to the Centre to recognise Lingayats and Veerashaivas, who follow Basavanna’s philosophy and teachings, as a religious minority under Section 2(c) of the National Minorities Act, 1992 based on a seven-member panel of experts constituted by the KSCM on a request made by the State government on the demands for recognition of this community as a separate minority religion.
A Division Bench, comprising Chief Justice Dinesh Maheshwari and Justice S. Sujatha, before whom the petitions came up for hearing, disposed of all the petitions as questions raised against State government’s actions did not survive for further consideration following the Union government declining to accede to the State’s recommendation.
The High Court in its interim order passed on January 5, 2018 made it clear that State’s actions on grant of minority religion status was subject to the final decision of the court as the petitioners had claimed that the State or KSMC had no power to study or recommend grant of minority religion status to any community under the KSMC Act, 1994.
