Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru
Bengaluru, Apr 18: The BJP and Congress, state as well as national leaders made sure that they paid their tributes to 12th-century saint Basaveshwara on the occasion of his birth anniversary on Wednesday April 18. The sudden devotion could be in the backdrop of the Lingayat-Veerashaiva issue in the state. Basaveshwara is revered by the Lingayats as well as the Veerashaiva community members. Leaders from BJP and Congress tried to make the maximum of the occasion, to appease voters from both the sects in the wake of the upcoming Karnataka polls.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid floral tributes at the bust of the saint at Albert Embankment Gardens in London and also uploaded a video of the same on his Twitter handle. The PM is on a four-day trip to Sweden and England.
Amit Shah who is in Karnataka began the day by garlanding the statue of Basaveshwara in Bengaluru. Just half an hour prior to that, Karnataka Congress state unit chief G Parameshwara paid his tribute to the same statue.
All India Congress Committee President Rahul Gandhi tweeted his tribute to the saint in English as well as in Kannada. Chief minister Siddaramaiah took a dig at BJP president B S Yeddyurappa, saying that at least on Basava Jayanti the BJP leader should follow his principles.
Amit Shah visited several Lingayat Maths and met leaders of the sect in Karnataka. His schedule also stated a meet with senior litterateur and researcher M Chidananda Murthy, an expert on Lingayat issues and Dalit poet Siddalingaiah, reportedly to seek their views on what elements should go into the BJP manifesto.
The Congress too made similar plans for chief minister Siddaramaiah.
Bar Siddaramaiah from garlanding Basaveshwara's statue: Shobha Karandlaje
In midst of the tributes, a sharp comment by BJP MP Shobha Karandlaje made Ramalinga Reddy lose his cool.
"Siddaramaiah should not be allowed to garland any statue of Basaveshwara throughout the state," said Karandlaje. She demanded Lingayats and Veerashaivas to bar Siddaramaiah from garlanding Basaveshwara's statue and blamed him for splitting the Lingayat community only with an intention to gain votes and create a vote bank for his party.
Reddy hit back saying that Basaveshwara is not Karandlaje’s property. “Who is she?” he questioned.
Protests against Amit Shah
Prior to Shah garlanding Basaveshwarasa’s statue, Lingayat community members staged a protest against Shah near Chalukya circle. They demanded that Shah makes his stand clear on the demand for Lingayat as a separate religion, and ask the government to approve the recommendation for the same.
However, before his arrival, the police arrested several from the community and dispersed the protesters from the location.
The Lingayats, who consider Basaveshwara the founder of a separate religion, have been supporters of the BJP from the late 1990s. However, CM Siddaramaiah’s move on recommending a minority religion status for Lingayats just weeks ahead of the May 12 election, has put BJP in a ‘Catch 22’ situation. Most of the Lingayat leaders are publicly supporting Congress, while BJP is working extra hard to stop the uprising.
The Lingayat community leaders from BJP, including BJP's chief ministerial candidate BS Yedyurappa, have called Congress's move 'politically motivated'.