In a setback to the BJP’s effort to garner support of the influential lingayat community, the powerful Murugha mutt has backed the Siddaramaiah Government’s decision to accord minority status to lingayats.
The development came just a day after BJP chief Amit Shah visited Murugha mutt in Chitradurga in central Karnataka seeking the support of its seer, Shivamurthy Murugha Sharanaru.
The BJP heavily depends on the votes of 17 per cent lingayat population to defeat the Congress Government in Karnataka. The sharp
division in the community following the State Government’s move is a cause of serious worry for the BJP.
To counter Siddaramaiah’s effort to divide the lingayats, Shah recently visited some lingayat mutts seeking their support for his party.
In the process, he also visited Murugha mutt. But just the day after his visit, the swamiji submitted a memorandum to Shah and said he supports the decision of the Siddaramaiah Government according a separate minority tag to them.
Shivamurthy Murugha Sharanaru said, “The Government of Karnataka has rightly recommended to the central backward commission (National Commission For Backward Classes) in this regard.”
The development is a major political embarrassment to the BJP in the run-up to the Karnataka Assembly polls.
Murugha mutt, lingayat mutt, also told Shah that it is against the BJP’s plans to unite lingayat religious institutions against the ruling Congress Government.
“This clearly shows how Siddaramaiah has succeeded in dividing the dominant community,” said a BJP leader. The saffron party is against breaking the lingayat community from Hinduism and to accord a new religion status.
“It is not a step to divide the community but a measure to unite the already sub-divided sub caste followers in lingayaths (lingayats), a religious group having a special tenets or culture on the lines of revolution of Sharanas of 12th century AD Karnataka,” the memorandum further said.
The memorandum added that the minority status to this religion will deliver benefits to its youth, both individually and collectively. “At the outset, it appears that there is controversy between lingayats and Veershaiva lingayats faith followers. It is a temporary outbreak of emotions of small groups in the followers of both faiths. It will not last long,” the memorandum stated.
However experts feel that there is an ambiguity in the decision to grant minority status to lingayts and also accord a separate religion status.
The Government had said lingayats and those Veershaiva’s who follow Basava Thathva will be considered as part of the new minority religion. This led to the All India Veershaiva Mahasabha, a representative body of the lingayats, to condemn the Congress Government for allegedly trying to divide lingayats and Veershaiva.
Asked whether he had any further deliberations on the matter with Shah, the seer said, “We have conveyed to Shah clearly that the Muruga Mutt is a secular Mutt and does not swing towards any political party or patronage.”
In another development Chief Minister Siddaramaiah became second CM of the State to complete full term of office for five years after a long gap of 40 years.
Siddaramaiah was sworn in as the CM on May 13, 2013 and will continue to hold the post until the elections in the State are held. In the history of Karnataka, except for Siddaramaiah and Devaraj Urs, no other Karnataka CM has served a full term. In case of other Governments, they were either dissolved earlier or had multiple Chief Ministers.