In an initiative to break the BJP’s vote bank ahead of elections of the State Assembly in 2018, the Congress is trying to break the lingayat community by demanding a separate religion status for them. This will change the political dynamics of Karnataka and also divide the community, which is so far solidly behind BJP.
In a major initiative a powerful lingayat leader from north Karnataka and Water Resources Minister MB Patil who is spearheading along with some Congress lingayat Ministers, a campaign for a separate religion for lingayats wants the Chief Minister to constitute a committee to look into their demand for a separate religion. Some sections of lingayats are demanding that they were not Hindus and need to be treated as a separate religion like Jainism and Sikhism.
So far lingayats, which constitute over 19 per cent of the population of the State, one of the dominant communities are solidly with the BJP and support BJP’s strongman BS Yeddyurappa, who is a strong leader from this community.
Both the BJP and the RSS have opposed this move and the community is divided over the issue. This has become a major issue and it is quite curious to see how the BJP is going to handle this situation to keep them in its fold.
“We have submitted a memorandum to the Chief Minister citing 18 court judgments, gazettes and historical works to substantiate our stance,” MB Patil said. The expert committee should look into it and make a recommendation, after which the issue can be taken up with the Centre, he said. He was addressing a Press conference in Bengaluru along with another Minister wants it to take it forward to counter the BJP.
He said recognition of lingayats as a separate religion should be along the lines of a similar status granted to the Jains in 2013.