Karnataka CM plays safe: Government's got nothing to do with rallies by Lingayats
Bengaluru: Amidst an intensified campaign for separate religion status for the Veerashaiva-Lingayat faith, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Sunday said the state government has nothing to do with the rallies being organised in this regard.
With resentment growing within the community over projecting Lingayats and Veerashaivas as the same, he clarified that the stands taken by few of his ministers on the issue as "their personal view".
"The government has nothing do with the rallies," Siddaramaiah told reporters in Chitradurga. Responding to a question about ministers participating in the rallies and taking sides, he said, "can’t ministers have their own opinion? Is there anything that they have to listen to what I say? On matters concerning the government, they consult me, on matters not concerned with the government, I can’t tie their mouth", he said.
With Assembly elections due early next year, the demand for a separate Veerashaiva-Lingayat religion is gaining ground among the community, concentrated largely in the northern part of the state. Leaders and pontiffs who propagate that the Lingayats are separate from Veerashaivas, on Sunday held a large public meeting in Kalburgi as a show of strength.
While one section under 'Akhila Bharata Veerashaiva Mahasabha' has demanded separate religion status, asserting that Veerashaiva and Lingayats are the same, the other wants it only for Lingayats as they believe that Veerashaivas are one among the seven sects of Shaivas, which is part of Hinduism. The Veerashaiva-Lingayat community that owes allegiance to the 12th century social reform movement initiated by Basaveshwara, has a substantial population in the state and a presence in parts of Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Telangana. The BJP and several sections of the Hindu community are opposed to the move to give the Veerashaiva-Lingayat community separate religion status and have accused the Siddaramaiah government of dividing the community to draw political mileage ahead of the assembly elections.
