Siddaganga mutt seer backs separate religious tag for Lingayats

Karnataka Water Resources Minister M B Patil on Sunday said that the 110-year-old seer gave his consent for the fight

The pontiff of the largest and the most influential Lingayat mutt in Karnataka, Sri Sri Sri Sivakumara Swamiji, has backed the community's fight for a separate religious tag. Karnataka Water Resources Minister M B Patil on Sunday claimed that the 110-year-old seer had 'blessed the movement'.

"I met the seer of Siddaganga mutt and informed him of the fight for a separate religious tag. He said that Lingayatism should be a separate religion and gave his consent to the movement. He, in clear terms, has said that Veerashaiva and Lingayats are different," M B Patil claimed. Patil is one of the prominent promoters of the movement to seek religious status for Lingayats and differentiate it from Veerashaivas.

Lingayats are long since believed to be the largest community in Karnataka, are BJP state chief B S Yeddyurappa's primary vote bank. Leaked statistics from the caste census says that Lingayat population is below 10 per cent, Vokkaliga around 8 per cent in the state. Nearly 55 per cent of Karnataka's population is from the backward classes. Lingayats are hoping to receive a separate religious status with backward class categorization.

Sivakumara Swamiji's consent is bound to have political ramifications, analysts say. Congress leaders like Patil have been taking the movement forward while the BJP chose to "let the community decide". Analysts believe that the development will dent the BJP's chances in next years polls.

"The Congress never intended to distance itself from the movement and now they have what they wanted. They wanted to break the BJP's massive vote share from the community in North Karnataka and Sunday's development will pave the way for the same. Siddaramaiah has hit two birds with a single stone," said Harish Ramaswamy, political analyst, and professor with Karnatak University.

He added that Siddaramaiah does not, at least for now, have to bother about another BJP leader claiming the support of entire communities, at least the large ones.

OneIndia News