Rubbishing the claims that the decision to grant a separate religious status to the Lingayat community was Congress’ political agenda, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Tuesday reiterated that the “Lingayat faith as a religion is an old one”.
The clarification came after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), in the Opposition camp in the state, accused the Congress of striving to garner the votes of Lingayats, a dominant community in the state, ahead of the Assembly elections likely in April-May.
Asking the BJP to stop accusing him of “dividing religion”, Siddaramaiah on asked the saffron party to instead listen to the Lingayat-Veershiva community.
In a tweet, Siddaramaiah said: “The demand to recognize the Lingayat faith as a religion is an old one. What the Government has done is a recognition of a fact acknowledged as far back as the Mysore Census of 1871.”
“Those in BJP accusing us of dividing religion better listen to the Lingayat-Veershiva community,” he said.
The Congress has dared Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief Amit Shah and party’s Karnataka Chief Ministerial candidate BS Yeddyuruppa to clarify their position on Lingayats—who have been granted the status of religious minority in poll-bound Karnataka.
The Karnataka cabinet on Monday accepted an expert panel report favouring separate religious minority status for Lingayats and Veershaivas, who believe in 12th century social reformer Basavanna’s philosophy.
After an elaborate discussion, the cabinet approved minority status for Lingayats based on the suggestions of the seven-member committee headed by retired high court judge Nagamohan Das. The cabinet also decided to forward its recommendation to the Centre.
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