Thousands of Lingayats protest in New Delhi demanding religious minority status
Thousands of Lingayat seers reached New Delhi seeking a religious minority status for the community. The Karnataka government, under Siddaramaiah, had cleared the proposal to grant the status to Lingayats.
New Delhi: Thousands of protestors of the Lingayat community on Wednesday, reached the national capital, agitating against the Centre's decision to reject the state government's recommendation to grant a religious minority status to their community. the Union government, on Monday, told Karnataka High Court, that it rejected the state government's recommendation. The Centre, while rejecting the recognition to Lingayat and Veerashaiva communities, reiterated its earlier stated stand that the two communities are a part of the Hindu religion.
The protestors, who reached Jantar Mantar, however, claimed that Lingayat was an independent religion and not a part of the Hindu religion. Citing the Nagamohan Das committee report, which had suggested a religious minority status to Lingayats, the protestors claimed to have prepared a memorandum to press for their demands. "Nagmohandas report has recommended that Lingayats have all the ingredients to be declared a separate religion. We have been fighting since 1947 to get an independent identity.. We will stay here till someone from the Central government comes and accepts our memorandum," one of the protesters told Times Now channel.
"We want constitutional recognition to Lingayat dharma. It is an independent religion and not a caste in Hinduism. In our community, there are so many people who are financially backward," said another. The Karnataka government under the then Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, in the run-up to the Assembly election, cleared the proposal to grant a religious minority status to Lingayats. The move was being looked at as an attempt to woe the Lingayat voters in the state.