Q&A: We will seek religious minority status for Lingayats , says Jamdar

Lingayats, who account for over sixteen percent of the state’s population, are the dominant community in Karnataka. For the last three months, they have been out on the streets demanding religion status but midway through the agitation, they seem to have realised that they may not get the religion tag. They are now keen to change track, drop the religious status demand and ask for minority status. One of the pioneers of this movement, S.M. Jamdar turns passionate when he speaks about the demand for minority status. With a team of 50 scholars, he has been exploring the  legal route to gain the status. According to him, Lingayats are mentioned as one of the Indic religions in the Constituent assembly debates and later in several Supreme Court judgements. If Lingayats are not a religion, then why did the Constituent assembly  treated them as an Indic religion, asks Jamdar. The former IAS officer has donned many hats working in academics and in the government. In an  interview with Deccan Chronicle he replied to questions which other Lingayat leaders would prefer to avoid. The soft-spoken Jamdar presented his case without hurting the sentiments of others. Here are excerpts.

Basaveshwara wanted to break the barriers of caste, religion and rituals. It will be an irony if Lingayats get religion status for all these elements will return to haunt the Lingayats.

You are right. The purpose has already been defeated. Brahmins from the present Andhra Pradesh region came and joined Lingayats 400 years ago, they brought the rituals, priestly class and everything that Basaveshwara opposed. Justice Shivraj Patil, Justice Santhosh Hegde and advocate B.V. Acharya said Lingayats could not get  religion status. I told our leaders that you should not mislead people on the religion tag. We can fight for minority status, not religion status. Remember a common man who joined this agitation is not bothered about the religion tag. What will he get with the  religion tag? He is more worried about his future and that of his kith and kin.

You said, religion status is no longer a demand and you are going to ask for minority status. Why do Lingayats need minority status? The general perception is that Lingayats are a prosperous community.

Since granting religion status under the present law is not possible, we will seek religious minority status. Under the Karnataka State Minority Commission Act 1994 section 9-H, the state government can give us minori ty status.  To answer the second part of your question, Jains are not a poor community. But among Lingayats, those who are not upper castes like Madiwalas and Ganigas are poor and backward.

Then, you will be fighting with other minority communities who are already in that bloc.

Why should we (fight with them)? As the population of minorities goes up, the government has to increase the allocation for minority welfare. So, we will not take away the benefits meant for others. This is an operational issue and not a conceptual problem. To clear the air, Muslims distributed one and half lakh bottles of water at the Lingayat rally held in Belagavi. This gesture of theirs shows they are not worried.

If you get minority status, what is the guarantee that educational institutions run by Lingayats will not run behind money instead of adopting a philanthropic approach..

They will not suo motu get that status. They have to apply for minority status under the National Minority Education Institutions Act. There will be a rigorous test with checks which you have to pass.

You know how some of the other minority institutions, hoodwink the government and make money.

You are right. That possibility can’t be ruled out. But we have an in-built mechanism within the Lingayats. Every sub-sect has a mutt and a pontiff and I think they will not keep quiet if people belonging to their group are denied justice. They will move the court. So it is not easy for these institutions to deceive people.

Isn’t the ruling Congress party politically exploiting the issue?

Yes, very much.

Will it benefit the Congress in the Assembly elections? The Congress might cut into BJP votes..

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah who was never known to be friendly with the Lingayats, suddenly changed his strategy in the last six months. Be it naming the women university after a Lingayat icon or installing Basava’s pictures in government offices, he is trying very hard to woo the Lingayats now. It was the BJP government in Maharashtra which first decided to put Basava picture in all government offices. Mr Siddaramaiah adopted the same policy here. The Veerashaiva Mahasabha felicitated him for this gesture but without anticipating the consequences, they gave a petition seeking religion status. He emphatically said he would do it but now, we know it is not easy. I doubt he will concede the demand for granting minority status considering how sensitive this is. He has two options: to give the minority tag here or recommend it to the Centre. If he does not accept the demand, he will not get Lingayat support. If he does, he will certainly get a substantial chunk of Lingayat votes.

It looks like water resources minister, M.B. Patil is  ambitiously taking up this cause. 

Perhaps. He said if he did not fight for this cause who else would? There is a bit of history here. Long ago, Fa Gu Halakatti, the father of Vachanas, was associated with the education institutions run by Mr Patil. So, Mr Patil is passionate about this. And the CM cleverly drafted Mr Patil and Mr Vinay Kulkarni for this job. Nothing wrong in it.

If your demand for religious minority status is not met before the elections, will you pressurise political parties to include your demand in the manifesto?

We may not do it. But considering the serious debate going on in  society, I think political parties will voluntarily include it in their agenda.