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

MSS
 - 
Wednesday, 23 Aug 2017

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.

 

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News Network
February 13,2020

Mangaluru, Feb 13: After pro-Kannada outfits called for a state-wide bandh today, the police are on high-alert to avoid any untoward incidents.

The dawn to dusk bandh was called demanding implementation of Sarojini Mahishi report which recommended certain percentage of jobs to Kannadigas in private & public sector companies.

There is no official holiday declared for schools and colleges. Besides, all government institutions and private establishments are open.

But, in some parts of Karnataka, autorickshaws and taxis, including Ola and Uber stayed off the roads.

Even though the bandh is unlikely to hit normal life in coastal Karnataka, stones were pelted on a Tirupati-Mangaluru bus in Farangipet.

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News Network
February 6,2020

Mangaluru, Feb 6: In a case of suspected political rivalry, a 28-year-old BJP activist was brutally assaulted by a gang at Munchoor here, police said on Thursday.

Police said that the injured identified as Yashodhar is undergoing treatment at Padmavathi Hospital here.

Four people namely – Diwakar, Dinesh Shetty, Ashwith Kulal and Yashodhara Agaramelu – assaulted Yashodhar and posed him with a death threat. It was reported that the gang had been keeping an eye on Yashodhar’s movements for some time now.

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News Network
June 4,2020

Jun 4: Belur Mutt, the global headquarters of Ramakrishna Mutt and Ramakrishna Mission, has decided to throw open its gates to the devotees from June 15 after putting in place all safety measures required to contain the spread of COVID-19.

The gates of the sprawling premises of the mutt set up by Swami Vivekananada at Belur near here was closed since the lockdown was announced in March by the Centre. The Mutt has devotees from across the globe.

The secretary of Belur Mutt Ramakrishna Mutt and Ramakrishna Mission, Swami Suvirananda said in a statement that as the easing down of lockdown measures announced by the Centre and the state did not indicate the threat caused by COVID-19 pandemic is over, the authorities thought it prudent to put in place all the measures required before opening the gates of the Mutt and all RKM centres in the country for the scores of devotees.

The statement was issued on June 1, the day religious places of worship were thrown open by the West Bengal government.

"We had to think about both aspects - the issue of public health and also the wish of our devotees for having a darshan of the shrines of Swami Vivekananda, Sri Sarada Maa and Ramamrishna Paramahansa. But we believe spirituality and sceintific temparament must go hand in hand," he told reporters on Thursday.

"Therefore it is imperative for us to consult experts and put in place adequate arrangement and infrastructure" before opening the (Belur Mutt) gates," he said.

The senior monk said the timing of the opening and closure of the shrine and all other details conforming the health protocol and guidelines will be announced before opening date.

The Mutt complex had become totally out of bound for visitors from March 24 when the lockdown was clamped. There was restricted entry to it since May 16.

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