Amid fresh push for Lingayat religion status, Karnataka BJP alleges attempt to divide Hindu community

At the event, a five-point resolution emphasising the need to raise awareness about the Lingayat religion and secure government recognition was passed in the presence of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah. The resolution described the Lingayat faith, founded in the 12th century by social reformer Basavanna and the Sharanas, as a religion “rooted in equality, brotherhood, and human values”, and urged the community to embrace the identity.

The event was a culmination of year-long activities carried out after the state government declared Basavanna as a “cultural icon”. Siddaramaiah, speaking at the event, said the social reformer had created a new religion to oppose the caste-based hierarchies. “He wanted to create a society devoid of caste and class,” the chief minister said, igniting fresh debate on the separate religion demand for Lingayats.

Prominent seer Basavalinga Pattadevaru said the separate religion demand had got recognition because of Siddaramaiah. “Eventually, the Union Government will have to accept Lingayatism as a separate religion. No one can stop it,” he said.

Responding to the development, BJP state president B Y Vijayendra, who hails from the community, called it an attempt to divide Hindus in the state. “People of the community are aware of the people behind this. Today, we have to protect the Hindu religion,” he said on Monday. “In the past too, there were attempts to break the Hindu religion. They did not succeed then and won’t succeed in the future,” Vijayendra added.

The chief minister, however, denied contentions that the issue was being raked up. “It has not come to the fore. Some seers from the community are demanding it,” he told reporters at Koppal. Siddaramaiah also said that he did not have a stand on the issue. “Whatever people say is their stand,” he said, referring to calls for Lingayats to register themselves as “others” in the religion category of the ongoing survey.

Separate religion demand and caste survey

While the Mahasabha has asked Lingayats and members of its affiliated sub-castes to identify themselves as “others” in the religion category, BJP leaders have asked community members to register their religion as Hindu and caste as Lingayat. While this distinction will have no bearing in calculating their socioeconomic and educational status, speculations are that the data could be used to assess the sentiments of the Lingayat community regarding the separate religion demand.

The issue is politically sensitive. A movement started under minister M B Patil during Siddaramaiah’s first tenure as chief minister for the religion status and the subsequent recommendation to the Centre to accord minority religion status to Lingayats ahead of the 2018 Assembly polls is widely believed to have cost the Congress dear in Lingayat-dominated constituencies. Several Congress leaders who championed the cause had to suffer electoral setbacks.

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