Lingayats form around 17 per cent of Karnataka's population with a strong presence in Mumbai-Karnataka and Hyderabad-Karnataka regions and are deemed to be the largest caste formation.
A year after Karnataka granted the status of a separate religion and religious minority for Lingayats, the Congress seems to be playing the card in Maharashtra. In March 2018, the Siddaramaiah-led Congress government in Karnataka had granted the status of a separate religion to Lingayats and those Veerashaivas who accepted the philosophy of social reformer and poet-saint Basaveshwara. Lingayats form around 17 per cent of Karnataka's population with a strong presence in Mumbai-Karnataka and Hyderabad-Karnataka regions and are deemed to be the largest caste formation.
In Maharashtra, a section of the Lingayats had organised nine morchas to press for this. Vijaykumar Hatture, general secretary, Lingayat Samanway Samiti, said they would support the Congress after it agreed to concede the demand. "We follow the Hindu way of life and have a saffron flag and similar social structure. However, our practices differ. While Hindus cremate their dead, we bury them. Mahatma Basaveshwara rejected rituals," he added.
In last year's monsoon session of the Maharashtra legislature, the BJP-led government had ruled out the separate religion tag.
A copy of a carefully-worded letter to the Samiti signed by former chief minister and Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) president Ashok Chavan promises a "positive" response on the community's demands after considering decisions taken by the governments in other states and "after consulting all sections of society and under guidance of all religious heads."
Veershaiva Lingayat groups claim they form around 90 lakh to a crore of Maharashtra's population, with substantial numbers in 12 Lok Sabha constituencies like Solapur, Hingoli, Sangli, Latur, Beed, Hatkanangale and Kolhapur.
Lingayats are followers of 12th-century saint-social reformer Basaveshwara, who rebelled against caste, rituals and obscurantism. They have around 350 castes and sub-castes.
While accusing the BJP of neglecting their demand, Hatture said the Lingayats were incensed at the state government spurning their demand to rename the Solapur University after Lingayat saint Shivayogi Siddharameshwar. The varsity has been named after warrior-queen Ahilyabai Holkar, as sought by the dhangar (shepherd) community.
However, Manohar Dhonde of the Shiva Veershaiva Yuvak Sanghatana opposed the separate religion demand and added that the Congress was government's decision in Karnataka had hurt its prospects in the assembly polls. "There is no need for political parties to intervene in religion," he added, alleging that those seeking a separate religion tag lacked popular support.
KEY INSIGHT
- The demand for independent religion status was opposed by Veershaiva seers. Critics said proposals for a separate religion were rejected by the Centre in 1969, 1991, 1999, 2008 and 2014. Veershaiva Lingayats castes in the SC category would have lost quota benefits
- In Maharashtra, the agitation for Lingayats to be recognised as adherents of a separate religion is helmed by Shivalinga Shivacharya Maharaj Ahmedpurkar (102), who is based out of Ahmedpur in Latur. The pontiff, a disciple of Madival Shivacharya Swami, is said to be an MBBS degree holder from Lahore during the pre-partition era, and a freedom fighter and RSS member
- Prominent Veershaiva Lingayat political faces in Maharashtra include Shivraj Patil-Chakurkar, Dilip Sopal, Vinay Kore-Savkar and the late Ratnappa Kumbhar
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