The state government assured the community that it will also recommend the Centre to grant the separate religion tag to Lingayat community.
Ending the months of the cliffhanger, the Siddaramaiah government in Karnataka finally accorded the separate religion tag to the Lingayat community. The issue that has taken the state politics by storm ahead of assembly polls finally showed a progress with Siddaramaiah accepting the demand of the community to identify them as a separate religion from that of Hinduism.
On Monday, the Karnataka Chief Minister held a marathon of meetings of his cabinet. According to sources, the meeting was chaotic as many had different opinions on the matter. The government also held discussions with powerful Lingayat seers. When the demand was raised by the community, a separate Justice Nagamohan Das Committee was constituted to study the issue. It had asked the state to accord a separate religion tag to Lingayats. The state cabinet accepted the recommendation.
The state government assured the community that it will also recommend the Centre to grant the separate religion tag to Lingayat community. With this move, the state Congress government has put the ball in BJP’s court. On the other hand, BJP which was opposing the move from beginning accused Siddaramaiah of playing vote bank politics. BJP general secretary in-charge of Karnataka P Muralidhar Rao also accused the state government of practising a “divide and rule” policy. Rao said, “Like Britishers, Congress is also dividing the country.” Sensing the move as a political gimmick ahead of assembly polls, he asked the Chief Minister why he did not consider granting separate religion status to Lingayat community four years ago.
Surprisingly, BJP’s CM pick BS Yeddyurappa too has changed his tunes on the issue. Yeddyurappa, a powerful Lingayat leader who has been vigorously opposing the separate religion states to Lingayat community, after the state cabinet’s decision called for a discussion by the Veershaiva community leaders. He said, “All India Veerashaiva Mahasabha should immediately call a meeting, discuss the pros and cons of this recommendation and be a guiding light to society.”
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