Karnataka Assembly Election: Which Way Will the Lingayat Vote Swing?

Bangalore: In northern Karnataka – considered to be the stronghold of Lingayats – the community seems divided on the state's recent decision to recognise Lingayat as a separate religion, thus granting them minority status.

In March, the Congress government led by chief minister Siddaramaiah recommended that Lingayats and Veerashaivas – who follow the teachings of Basavanna – should be recognised as a separate religion. This has caused a political upheaval across the state.

Since Lingayat identity is not easily distinguishable from mainstream Hinduism, many Lingayats, especially Veerashaiva Lingayats, are angry at the Congress because they think the party is trying to divide their community along caste lines. Those opposing Siddaramaiah’s move are accusing him of promoting casteism and those in favour of the recommendation are arguing that it is recognition of their long-standing demand.

“Siddaramaiah is playing politics, and politicians themselves are creating a divide between Lingayats and Veerashaiva Lingayats,” declares Sidramappa Annadure, a farmer belonging to the Lingayat community from Bhalki constituency in Bidar. “One day, there will be a religious war” because of this, he adds.

“These people want to divide our community and religion,” says visibly-agitated Mallikarju Swami, another farmer belonging to the Lingayat community from Harnal village in Bhalki taluk. Swami believes the latest move by the state is to ensure that a person belonging to the community does not become chief minister. “Karnataka has Lingayat majority, so the chief minister should be a Lingayat and then a Vokkaliga. Siddaramaiah is trying to destroy this equation so that a Lingayat does not become the chief minister,” argues Swami. “By this move,” he adds, “we will end up fighting amongst ourselves as Veerashaivas and Lingayats and others will benefit.”

Chandrakanth Gama, another resident of Bhalki, says, “Siddaramaiah has proposed this recommendation to win votes. He has not done this for the Lingayat community.” Gama, who is a strong supporter of B.S. Yeddyurappa (BJP’s chief ministerial candidate), says the Congress never raised this issue when it was in power at the Centre. They have done it at this point of time because some religious leaders will vote for them. "But we won’t vote for the Congress. In our area, Lingayats will not vote for the Congress. Entire Lingayat community vote will go to Yeddyurappa,” he declares.

However, the head priest of the Hiremath Samsthana Bhalki does not agree. He claims there has always been a clear distinction between Lingayats and Veerashaivas. “They (Veerashaivas) believe in vedas and agamas, we believe in the Vachana literature,” he remarks. “Forty precent of the mutts are Lingayat ones, and remaining 60% are Veerashaiva believers,” he says, adding, “Many Lingayats are for the separate religion tag, especially those in the literary circles. The big mutts, the ones in Belgaum and Chitradurga are also in support of this move."

Moreover, most of the educated masses in the Lingayat community are in favour of the recommendation. On the question, how this is going to affect the election, the priest says, “I can’t tell exactly how this will affect the election but it will certainly make a difference. Siddaramiah could gain from this.”

For Srikant Swami, the general secretary of Jagathika Lingayat Mahasabha, who is also a Congress leader, this is more about the recognition of a long-standing demand and less about party politics. “Lingayats have been granted minority status not because of upcoming elections but there was a long-standing demand from the community,” he says. “This move of the government will certainly help the community, in order to strengthen its distinct socio-religious identity.” Dharma Rao Patil, a member of Lingayat community from Aland taluk of Kalburgi, agrees with Swami. “I am supporting this move, because due to this we might get quotas like SC and STs.”

It is not that Veerashaiva Lingayats are totally averse to the idea and don’t want the minority tag. They too want the tag and benefit under it, but don’t want to separate themselves from Hinduism. “If there is a demand for minority status for the Lingayats, then we will all agree. But if you say that Lingayats are not Hindus, then 95% of us are against this,” says Swami, who is unhappy with the government's latest move. Mahante Shekhar Ambli, a farmer from the Arjunagi village of  Vijayapura, holds similar views. “I don’t agree with this recommendation. It’s fine if they grant us the reservations but we don’t want to be made into a separate religion.”

According to professor Narender Pani from National Institute of Advance Studies, Bangalore, for Lingayats, the minority tag is “a matter of autonomy of your educational institutions, freedom to do what they want (like Christian and Muslim minority educational institutions). And that is the real thrust that these Lingayat institutions would be looking forward to.” With minority tag, under the Articles 29 and 30 of the constitution, Lingayat educational institutions would be eligible to attain special privileges granted to minority educational institution.

Pani has another important observation to make about the latest move by Siddaramaiah. “The interesting thing about Siddaramiah is that he has tried to take on Basavanna’s ideology of anti-caste, pro-poor into AHINDA. Though the Lingayats are the dominant caste, by doing this he is linking it with AHINDA, which has not been attempted before.”

(Additional reporting by Mahtab Alam)

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