BENGALURU: Veerasomeshwara Shivacharya swami, pontiff of the Rambhapuri Mutt, on Sunday strongly criticised Lingayat seers for openly urging community members to support Congress in the May 12 elections.
“The call is politically motivated and misleading,” the seer told TOI. “We condemn it. It’s an insult to the seers’ community. If they (Lingayat seers) are so interested in supporting Congress, let them join electoral politics and bat for whichever party they want.
About 50 seers of Lingayat mutts, under the banner ‘Forum of Lingayat Seers’, met in Bengaluru on Saturday and urged the community to support Congress. Mathe Mahadevi of Basava Dharma Peetha extolled the ruling party and praised chief minister Siddaramaiah.
“I personally support Congress and I appeal to Lingayats to support the Congress,” she said. “Chief minister Siddaramaiah has taken a bold decision despite stiff opposition from the seers of Veerashaiva mutts.”
The forum also adopted a resolution to reject BJP national president Amit Shah’s statement opposing religious minority status for Lingayats. “Who is Amit Shah to oppose our demand? Is he a minister or a chairperson of the National Commission for Minorities? The BJP is trying to sideline a major community like Lingayats in Karnataka like they did to Yadavs and Patels in UP and Gujarat respectively. We should not allow it to happen,” the forum said.
However, insisting that the resolution holds no significance among Lingayats as there are very few people who listen to these seers, Rambhapuri swami said: “Dividing a community in itself is against the principles of Basavanna, who wanted to build a caste-less society. So what they are doing will bring a bad name not only to the community, but also to Basavanna,” he said.
Another Veerashaiva Lingayat, leader who refused to be named, said the Congress will realize its mistake after May 15 as Lingayats on the ground are waiting for an opportunity to teach a lesson to Congress for dividing the community.
BRAINCHILD OF CM, SAYS SHETTAR
Hubballi: Jagadish Shettar, leader of the opposition in the assembly, claimed comments made by Mathe Mahadevi, the head of Basava Dharma Peetha, was evidence that the push for minority religion status for Lingayats was the brainchild of chief minister Siddaramaiah. “From the beginning we have been saying that the demand for minority status was raised for political gain,” Shettar said. “Siddaramaiah raised this emotional issue after BJP declared B S Yeddyurappa as chief ministerial candidate. The demand was also raised to shift the burden on Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Why were the pontiffs silent when the demand was raised in 2013 when UPA government was at the Centre? Why did they not bring pressure on that government?”
Shettar also alleged that the minority religion demand was raised to hide failures of the government. “Of the 92 castes in Lingayat-Veerashaiva community, 20 per cent are scheduled castes and 15 per cent OBCs,” he said. “They are already getting the benefit of reservation. Will they continue to get reservation facility?”
