Lakhs attend Lingayat rally, push for religion status; BJP stays away

coastaldigest.com news network

August 23, 2017

Belagavi, Aug 23: The mega Lingayat convention and rally organized at Lingaraj College Grounds here on Tuesday to put pressure on the state and central governments to accord the separate religion status to the community saw lakhs of people converging from different parts of Karnataka and neighbouring states. However, BJP leaders stayed away from the event.

The convention concluded with a single resolution that Lingayats belong to a separate religion and it should get constitutional recognition. Besides, all participants pledged to fight for separate religion status till the demand is met.

This is the second mega rally of Lingayats in the state after the one at Bidar. The meet claimed the Lingayat religion had come into existence after the 12th century revolution that had opposed Vedic religion that promoted caste and gender discrimination.

Siddalinga Swami of Tontadarya Mutt, Gadag, Muruga Sharanaru of Bruhan Mutt, Chitradurga, Mate Mahadevi of Basava Dharama Peeta and over 50 other seers representing different mutts, political leaders of community from the Congress and the JD(S) participated. However, Lingayat leaders from the BJP abstained from the rally.

Senior JD(S) leader Basavaraj Horatti said the government should accord religion status to Lingayat or face the consequences and anger of the community. Lingayats and Veerashaivas are totally different. Akhila Bharatha Veerashaiva Mahasabha should realise that Lingayat was a complete religion in view of its unique philosophy.

Horatti criticised the RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat for his statement that Lingayats should remain in Hinduism. The struggle will go on until Lingayat was recognised as an independent religion, he added.

Retired IAS officer Shivanand Jamdar said it was not an effort to establish a new religion but a struggle seeking recognition for an already existing one. "When we are not Hindus, the question of we deserting Hinduisim would thus not arise,” he added.

Minister for Mines and Geology Vinay Kulkarni said it was an apolitical movement and urged the community's political leaders to come out of the clutches of the vested interest to uphold the interest of the community. A mega rally of 25 lakh people would be organised in Benglauru in support of the demand, he stated.

Muruga Sharanaru of Chitradurga stressed the need for convincing other seers who had remained away from the movement. Mate Mahadevi asked the community leaders in the BJP to introspect whether their priority was politics or religion.

Comments

Dharma should clearly define the goal and its own principles.

These are fundaments for existence of dharma to be justified,

If Lingayat is separate, you should not imitate anything from other religion specially the way of Seers, Mutts, Kesari dress those all resembles as Hindus.

Lingayats should have your own.

Add new comment

Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.

Udupi: Veteran RSS leader Somashekhar Bhat gets call from PM Modi

News Network

April 25,2020

Udupi, Apr 25: Senior RSS leader H Somashekhar Bhatt received a call from Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday enquiring about his health.

Bhatt got emotional hearing the Prime Minister's voice at the other end, family sources said.

The Prime Minister called at 8.30 AM and began the conversation with 'Somashekharji' and spoke for about six minutes.

The 85-year-old veteran recalled how the Jana Sangh came to power in Udupi municipality under the leadership of V S Acharya in 1968 and about his association with the Sangh Parivar through the decades and his imprisonment during the Emergency.

Bhatt, former Udupi municipality president, later said it was a rare honour for him.

"I am very glad that PM Modi called and spoke to me. I shared the experience of meeting him at the Jaipur session.

Asked to take care of health and expressed concern," he said.

The Prime Minister has been calling senior functionaries of the party who worked for the Sangh Parivar in the time of adversities to build up the BJP in its present form and seeking advice from them.

He had also called in recent days former MLA Ram Bhat who was elected from Puttur in Dakshina Kannada and D H Shankar Murthy, who was former chairman of the state legislative council, BJP state president Nalin Kumar Kateel tweeted.

Comments

Add new comment

Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.

Karnataka reports 71 COVID-19 deaths In 24 hours, biggest jump so far

News Network

July 12,2020

Bengaluru, Jul 12: Karnataka on Sunday registered 71 COVID-19 deaths, its highest single day count, and 2,627 fresh cases, pushing the tally of infections in the state to 38,843, the health department said.

The total positive cases include 22,746 active cases and 15,409 discharges, the department said in its daily bulletin.

The total active cases include 532 people admitted in the ICUs across the state.

Of the 71 fatalities, a record 45 were reported in Bengaluru alone including the death of 16 day-old baby girl and 17-year-old girl with chronic kidney disease, taking the total mortalities in the city to 274.

Among the districts, where new cases were reported, Bengaluru urban accounted for 1,525 cases, followed by Dakshina Kannada with 196, Dharwad 129, Yadagiri 120, and 19 in Bengaluru Rural.

Since the outbreak of the pandemic, 8.39 lakh samples have been tested including 20,050 on Sunday alone, of which 7.80 lakh tested negative.

Other than Bengaluru, five fatalities were reported in Dakshina Kannada, three each in Mysuru, Hassan, Davangere and Belagavi, two each in Haveri and Bagalkote and one each in Dharwad, Koppal, Tumakuru, Vijayapura and Chamarajanagar.

While majority of those who died of coronavirus suffered from Severe Acute Respiratory Illness and Influenza Like Illness, significantly 21 victims did not have any pre-medical conditions while eight were the asymptomatic patients with pre-medical conditions.

Comments

Add new comment

Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.

In Mangaluru pro-CAA rally Rajnath Singh rakes up Kashmiri Pundit issue

coastaldigest.com web desk

January 27,2020

Mangaluru, Jan 27: No power can now stop Kashmiri Pandits from going back to Kashmir, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said on Monday, forcefully defending the NDA government’s decision to reorganise Jammu and Kashmir and abrogating its special status under Article 370.

Addressing a massive pro-CAA, NRC rally organised by the Bharatiya Janata Party at Gold Finch city, Kuloor, on the outskirts of the city, the Defence minister also sent a strong message to Pakistan and said India will not let anyone live in peace if it is harmed.

"We will not touch anyone, but if someone bothers us, then we are not going to let them live in peace," he said.

Referring to the exodus of a large number of Kashmiri Pandits from the Valley in the late 1990s at the height of militancy, Singh said no power now can stop them from returning to their homes.

On the Citizenship Amendment Act, the minister said it is not a law to hurt the sentiments of any religion but to give relief to victims of religious persecution.

Mahatma Gandhi had told Nehru to give citizenship to minorities like Hindus and Sikhs if they come to India and Prime Minister Narendra Modi has fulfilled that vision by bringing in the law, Singh said.

On several non-BJP states refusing to implement the CAA, the defence minister said it it is a central law and everyone should follow it.

Accusing the Congress of misleading people on the issue, he said the party should not forget its duty towards the nation just because it is in opposition.