Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru (SP)

Bengaluru, Mar 14: At the state cabinet meeting scheduled to be held here on Wednesday March 14, the issue of granting status of separate religion to Lingayat will be discussed again. In the light of raging controversy about the subject that has wedged a divide between Veerashaiva and Lingayat communities, the decision of the state cabinet assumes importance. This decision also has the potential of casting an influence on the election result.

Ministers are split on the issue of recognizing Lingayat as separate religion. While ministers, M B Patil and Vinay Kulkarni, are actively backing creation of Lingayat religion, two other ministers, Ishwar Khandre and S S Mallikarjun, are opposed to it. These ministers had poured out their differences during the discussions held on the subject by the cabinet meeting in the past. Because of these differences, the question of taking a clear stand by the government had remained elusive.

Chief minister arriving for a cabinet meeting - File photo

Ishwar and Mallikarjun had vehemently argued in favour of including Veerashaivas along with the Lingayat when recommending for separate religion. Patil and Kulkarni had said that if these two are merged, central government is likely to shoot down this recommendation. They had said that Veerashaivas follow traditions handed down by the ancient religion whereas Lingayat is a splinter group that separated itself from the Sanathan Dharma and won a separate identity for itself. Therefore, these two cannot be treated as one, these ministers had opined.

Some other ministers had said that creation of another minority religion might affect prospects of other minorities like Muslims, Jains and Sikhs who are being provided certain facilities, as Lingayat, if treated as a separate religion, too will claim a share in the benefits as a religious minority.

The chief minister reportedly discussed this issue individually with dissenting ministers in later days. Therefore there is a possibility of the cabinet clearing the way for recommending for the creation of Lingayat religion to the centre.

In an appeal, former MP, Vijay Sankeshwar, has said that Veerashaiva and Lingayat are one and the same and urged the people not to yield to efforts being made by the chief minister to split them with the support of some greedy heads of Maths and selfish Lingayat leaders. Addressing a press conference at Hubballi on Tuesday March 13, Sankeshwar said he does not subscribe to the recommendations made by Justice Nagamohandas committee.

A meeting of Swamijis held at Shivayogi Mandir at Badami on Tuesday has decided to fight against Congress if the cabinet adopts the report of the committee over creation of separate Lingayat religion. Kashi Jagadguru Dr Chandrashekhar Shivacharya, speaking to media persons after the meeting, said that if the government accepts the above report and fails to include Veerashaiva along with Lingayat in recommending separate religion, the Swamijis will undertake united efforts to bring in political change in the state. He said that a few ministers with support from an official have been trying to break the society. Terming this as a conspiracy connected with election, he said that hundreds of Swamijis have opposed this move. He however clarified that no agitation will be launched against the government if it decides against making any recommendation on creation of separate religion.