Amid simmering discontent between leaders of Veerashaiva and Lingayat factions within the governing Congress in Karnataka, a group of seers led by Kashi Jnana Peetha’s Jagadguru Chandrashekar Shivacharya on Thursday demanded that the government reject the report of an experts’ committee, led by retired High Court judge H.N. Nagamohan Das, favouring “religious minority” status for Lingayat community.
Nearly 50 Veerashaiva seers met Chief Minister Siddaramaiah.
“We are not happy with the report as it has favoured the Lingayat faction, which was well-represented in the committee. The issue is serious and needs long deliberations. We urge the Chief Minister not to make any recommendation to the Centre till the completion of the Assembly elctions. If need be, the government may constitute another experts’ committee, with representation from both Lingayats and Veerashaivas,” said Dingaleshwara Swami of Balehosur Mutt, who was part of the delegation.
The seers warned of a massive agitation if the government went ahead with its plan to recommend “religious minority” tag for the Lingayat community and not for Lingayat/Veerashaiva community.
“Of the 3,000 seers, only a handful are supporting those who are engineering to split the community. We have urged the Chief Minister not to take any decision that will break the community, and also not to accept the report,” said the seer.
‘RSS neutral on issue’
The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangha (RSS) has claimed to be “neutral” in its stand in the ongoing Lingayat–Veerashaiva issue and the demand over separate religion tag, V. Nagaraj, RSS Zonal Sanghachalak for Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Telengana, has said.
However, he said, “We want the community to stand united. Let the mutt heads and social leaders in the community take a decision whether to remain together or go separate ways.”
He also clarified that RSS was not working for any party directly and is only involved in “creating awareness” among voters.
