The Karnataka government on Monday accepted the recommendation and granted a religion status to Lingayat community.
The Karnataka government on Monday accepted the recommendation and granted religion status to Lingayat community.
The move by the Siddaramaiah government comes just a couple of months before the state assembly elections and is likely to stir massive political controversy.
The recommendation was made by the Nagamohan Das committee
Last week, the seers, led by Gadag-based Tontadarya Mutt's Siddalinga Swami, had met Siddaramaiah and urged him to implement the report of an official committee that recommended conferring a separate religious and minority status to their community. "Our fight is not new, it has been a 900-year-old fight and it has taken a shape now, the Tontadarya math swami had told reporters.
The demand for a separate religion tag to Veerashaiva/ Lingayat faiths had surfaced from the numerically strong and politically-influential community, amidst resentment from within over projecting the two communities as the same. While one section led by Akhila Bharata Veerashaiva Mahasabha had demanded separate religion status, asserting that Veerashaiva and Lingayats are the same, the other wants it only for Lingayats as it believes that Veerashaivasare one among the seven sects of Shaivas, which is part of Hinduism.
The BJP and several sections of the Hindu community have maintained a cautious stance, keeping away from the move to give Veerashaiva/Lingayat separate religion status.They have accused the Siddaramaiah government of dividing society to draw political mileage ahead of the assembly elections. Lingayat strongman and state BJP chief BS Yeddyurappa has been saying that his party would not allow efforts to "divide" the community.
(With PTI inputs)
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