Height of injustice!' Shamanur changes tack, slap for Siddaramaiah govt
HUBBALLI: A day after he welcomed the Siddaramaiah government's cabinet decision to recommend religious minority status for the numerically significant Lingayats and Veerashaiva Lingayats, veteran Congress leader and All India Veerashaiva Mahasabha president, Shamanur Shivashankarappa, described the move as "height of injustice" and announced that the Mahasabha would decide the future course of action on the issue on Friday.
His U-turn could well prove a manna for BJP leaders who took a stand that they would abide by the decision of the Mahasabha.
The seasoned octogenarian, who spoke to the media soon after a meeting with 30 senior pontiffs, including the Panchapeetha seers in Davangere, expressed his displeasure saying: "We thought that the government had decided to recommend a minority tag for the Veerashaiva-Lingayat combine, but now I realise the plea is one-sided and will do injustice to Veerashaivas. We will not accept the extension of the special tag to those among them, who follow only the principles of Basava. We realised that the state Cabinet had drawn up the proposal very cleverly," he added.
Maintaining that Veerashaivas followed an ancient religion founded by Jagadguru Renukacharya, he said "both Renukacharya and the 12th century Sharanas were like two eyes of the community".
In an equally ominous warning, Rambhapuri seer, Dr Veerasomeshwara Shivacharya Swami, who had also attended the meeting, warned: "People of the state will teach Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and the Congress a lesson if an attempt is made to divide the community by bowing to the pressure of a few seers and party leaders."
The seer said the Mahasabha would take legal action if the government did not reject the Justice Nagamohan Das committee report on the issue of a minority religious status for Lingayats. The move would destroy basic principles of the Veerashaiva tradition, he said. The seer warned "People of the state will teach Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and the Congress a lesson if an attempt is made to divide the community by bowing to the pressure of few seers and party leaders." He said Veerashaivas were included in the the proposal only to placate ministers S S Mallikarjun (Shamanur's son) and Eshwar Khandre, who were against the attempt to divide the community. Claiming that the government had hatched a conspiracy to destroy the basic principles of the Veerashaiva tradition, he advised the government to focus more on issues like the Mahadayi water dispute and infrastructure development.
