Political parties are not invited, and the Lingayat Mahasabha will resurrect the request for a separate religion tag.
In 2018, the Congress-dominated government of Karnataka awarded Lingayats a separate religious category. However, the central administration led by the BJP overturned this decision.
A sizeable portion of the Lingayat community, who are among the most well-known in Karnataka, are getting ready to advocate for their community to be recognized as a distinct religion, almost five years after the BJP-led central government overturned a proposal for it made by the former Congress-led state government.
While advocating for the separate religion tag, the Jagatika Lingayat Mahasabha wishes to avoid becoming politically involved in its campaign.
The relocation takes place right before the assembly elections.
Former civil servant and Jagatika Lingayat Mahasabha principal general secretary Jamdar S.M. told The Print, “We are not including any political party or leader nor are we giving any memo to the current government that has just over a month in office.”
The matter is presently being considered before the Karnataka High Court, where a petition filed by six members of the Lingayat Mahasabha nearly two years ago.
According to community members, Lingayats, which include Veerashaivas despite the names being used interchangeably, make up around 17% of the population of Karnataka. Ten of the state’s 23 chief ministers to date have come from this group.
However, the debate over the separate religion tag has heated up as a result of divisions within the community.
Firstly, the Jagatika Lingayat Mahasabha opposes the Veerashaivas’ claim to be incorporated into their own religion.
This is because the Veerashaivas identify as Hindus and the Lingayats adhere to the thought of the social reformer Basavanna, who lived in the 12th century, according to Jamdar.
Furthermore, there is the issue of demands pertaining to reservations made by specific sub-sects, such as the Panchamasalis.
The decision to designate the Lingayat and Veershaiva Lingayats as a religious minority was made by the former Congress government in response to a recommendation made by the Karnataka State Minorities Commission, which was based on a report submitted by an expert committee led by Justice Nagmohan Das.
However, according to many political watchers and leaders, the move was one of the greatest reasons for the Congress losing power in 2018 as the BJP, then in opposition, depicted it as a “election gimmick” and “ploy” to divide the community on emotive matters.
Jamdar is generally seen as the mastermind of the 2018 action taken by the Congress-led government, which was supported by state minister M.B. Patil at the time, among others.
Taking up the claims made by the central government
The Lingayats are followers of Basavanna, who decided to end caste discrimination and other “evils” associated with Hinduism’s Chaturvarna, or four-fold, caste system.
Inspired by the Bhakti Movement, Basavanna disapproved of temple worship and Brahmin traditions, envisioning a casteless, discrimination-free society in which men and women were treated equally.
Jamdar claims that there were three primary reasons why the central government opposed the Lingayats’ position as a minority religion.
He stated that the Mysore state census of 1871 came first.
According to Jamdar, the government’s assertion that the Lingayats were classified as a Hindu sect during the census is untrue. He said that their religion was noted separately in the census.
“They (the government) can open the 1871 census of Mysore state, where they have explicitly stated that Lingayat is a separate religion and not a caste on three different pages,” he continued.
Second, he mentioned that if the parent group is granted minority religious status, the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes inside the Lingayats will forfeit all advantages, according to the government. He also asserted that this was untrue.
“All privileges have been granted to the marginalized communities belonging to the Buddhist and Sikh religions, regardless of their classification,” the speaker stated.
Third, he stated that the Veerashaiva Mahasabha, a private organization, had opposed the Lingayats’ exclusive religion label and had wanted Veerashaivas, who are regarded as one of the community’s 99 subsects, to be included as well.
According to Jamdar, the All India Veerashaiva Mahasabha, led by seasoned Congressman Shamanur Shivashankarappa, has been battling for Veerashaivas and Lingayats to be recognized as a minority religion and has resisted any action that solely takes Lingayats into account.
“We believe that Veerashaiva and Lingayats are one and our fight for minority religion is from before Independence,” Veerashaiva Mahasabha secretary H.M. Renuka Prasanna said.
He declared, “On matters of faith, the courts cannot decide; only Parliament, by amendment, can grant this status.”
He went on to say that the Veerashaiva Mahasabha will proceed if a non-BJP administration wins Karnataka’s next elections, but the BJP is all about “Hindutva” and does not care to provide minority religion recognition.
The whole political situation
Since the 2008 elections, the Lingayats have unwaveringly supported the BJP, and in particular, B.S. Yediyurappa, a well-known Lingayat leader.
However, the community has recently been less certain of its choice, mostly because Bommai, a fellow Lingayat, has failed to appease the group’s mounting resentment, particularly that of the Panchamasalis, whose demands regarding reservations have not yet been met.
Leading the Panchamasali agitation as the head seer of the Kudala Sangama Matha, Jaya Mrutyunjaya Swami, has threatened to run against the BJP should the latter fail to reclassify the community under category 2A of the state backward classes list, which specifies a fifteen per cent quota for the listed groups.
Due to Bommai’s inability to raise the group to category 2A, the Panchamasalis, led by well-known BJP lawmakers like Basanagouda Patil (Yatnal), have claimed to be a major factor in the BJP’s defeat in Haveri, Bommai’s home district, in the 2021 Hanagal assembly bypolls.
Vokkaligas are currently in the 3A category, with 4% reservation, along with other communities like Reddys and Naidus, among others. The community had insisted on seeing this raised to 12 percent.
Comparably, under 3B, the Veerashaiva Lingayats, the Panchamasalis, and numerous other caste groups—including the Marathas and Aryas—receive roughly 5% of the reservation.
To appease Lingayats and Vokkaligas, the Bommai government decided in January of this year to eliminate the entire ‘3’ category from the OBC list and create two new categories, 2C & 2D. The 10% quota set aside for economically disadvantaged sections (EWS) was to be used to fill the quota under these new categories.
“2A & 2B will not be tampered with. When the cabinet approved the two additional categories on January 16, J.C. Madhuswamy, Karnataka’s minister for law and parliamentary affairs, stated that the percentage saved under EWS will be dispersed to boost the reservation for these two groups.
Nonetheless, the Panchamasalis have disapproved of the new classification.
The Lingayat face of Congress, Patil, told that a minority religion tag would have provided the community with better reservation and prevented demands from groups like the Panchamasalis, who, he claimed, are only interested in bettering their own educational and employment prospects at the expense of the Lingayat community as a whole.
M.B. Patil claims that the community is aware of the rationale for the 2018 decision.
“It was debatable if we should treat each and every sub-community (sub-sect) fairly. Take a look at the current status of the Panchamasali reservation. The subsect is requesting reservations, similar to those made for Sikhs and Jains. The Congress leader stated, “The entire Lingayat religion would have received minority status and reservation in medical and engineering seats.”
“Both KPSC and UPSC would have had representations (reservations) for us. It was close to elections at the time, and it was thought that the intention regarding minority religious status was unclear. He continued, “BJP, RSS, and others utilized it against us.
In an attempt to appease the Lingayats, the Congress has been making a lot of noise about what it describes as the BJP’s abuse of B.S. Yediyurappa, who was ousted as chief minister in 2021 amid rumors of a tense relationship with the party’s central leadership.
“Now that Yediyurappa has been removed, we have a great opportunity. Although Yediyurappa was a strong leader, there is a void in his wake. Although he is a Lingayat as too, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai is not as great as Yediyurappa, according to Patil.
So, this time, we can win over the community’s trust and get more seats by appropriately distributing tickets to Lingayats wherever they have a winnability element.
