There is need for members and leaders of the Veerashaiva Lingayat community to bury their differences and unite for facilitating the development of the community, according to several seers belonging to the community.
Scores of seers of the Veerashaiva Lingayat community met at Lingayat Bhavan in Dharwad on Monday to deliberate the next course of action for getting various benefits for the community from the government. Akhil Bharat Veearshaiva Mahasabha organised the meeting.
The meeting discussed at length the setbacks suffered by the community in terms of getting government benefits. The issue of other communities getting various benefits and members of the community reportedly shifting allegiance to other religions was also discussed.
At one point, members of the community who took part in the meeting also raised questions about the contributions of the seers in the development of society. A demand for supporting the ongoing movement for 2A reservation for Lingayat Pachamasali community from a section of the participants led to commotion for some time, which even went to the extent of some threatening to walk out of the meeting. President of Dharwad unit of the Mahasabha Gururaj Hunasimarad pacified them and facilitated continuation of the discussion.
Sri Dingaleshwar Swami of Balehosur Mutt, who has often courted controversies, made an appeal for burying the differences among the seers and leaders of the community. “Unity should become the mantra for strengthening the community,” he said.
The seer also emphasised the need for keeping away “imported Gods” from other States and focussing on the deities that belonged to the Veerashaiva Lingayat community. Reacting to the seer’s observation, one of the participants, Basavanthappa Totad, sought to know who was responsible for the development to which the seer replied that the religious heads and parents were responsible for it.
Some of the participants also sought to know what the religious heads have done for uniting the sub-castes and sub-divisions among the Veerashaiva Lingayat community. The other participating seers also emphasised the need for keeping aside personal opinions and preferences for the common good. Seers from various mutts across North Karnataka participated in the meet.
