Karnataka: Maha split? Lingayat Mahasabha soon

Bengaluru: In a significant upshot of the controversy over separate religion status for Veerashaivas, a new entity called “Akhila Bharathiya Lingayat Mahasabha,” similar to Akhila Bharathiya Veerashaiva Mahasabha, is likely to be formed on August 10 on grounds that the old organization had failed to respond to aspirations of people belonging to Veerashaiva-Lingayat community.

An announcement to this effect seems imminent during the meeting convened by water resources minister M.B. Patil and other leaders in Bengaluru on August 10. With this, the Veerashaiva-Lingayat community could head towards a vertical split over the issue of seeking a separate religion tag for the community.

A senior Veerashaiva-Lingayat leader and former minister told Deccan Chronicle that members of the community were fed up with the lackadaisical approach of the Mahasabha headed by former minister and veteran Congress leader Shamanur Shivashankarappa. The Mahasabha had failed to secure the status of a separate religion since last two decades. A memorandum submitted to the NDA government headed by PM Vajpayee and UPA Government led by Dr Manmohan Singh had not yielded desired results. Therefore, people felt that they need not associate themselves with the Mahasabha, he added.  He said Mr  Shivashankarappa, Mr N Thippanna or Mr Eshwar Khandre lacked courage to force the Union government to act on the memorandum. Therefore, several senior leaders of the community had decided to float a parallel organisation called ‘Akhila Bharathiya Lingayat Mahasabha’ to take the fight to its logical end. More than 90 per cent of the community people wanted a separate body to get their long-pending demand fulfilled. Besides, a large number of seers belonging to various Maths, legislators of all political parties and ministers would attend this crucial meeting and adopt resolutions including setting a deadline for the government to fulfill their demand as well as building a parallel organisation to protect the interests of people of the community.

“We are asking for a separate religion tag for the sake of uplift of poor people in our community and there is no selfish reason behind it," he added. Of the 224 Assembly constituencies, Veerashaiva-Lingayats dominate in 100 and therefore no party could antagonize people belonging to the community. The controversy over  religion tag has been revived in the run-up to next year’s elections. The ruling Congress has stoked the issue but it could prove dear for the party, says a senior BJP leader.