Lingayat religion issue a closed chapter, says Sharan Patil

Bengaluru, Sept 16: Medical Education Minister Dr Sharan Prakash Patil on Friday said the separate Lingayat religion issue was “a closed chapter” as he chose to draw the curtains over the controversy that has raged on for several weeks now.

“The separate religion issue - whether it has to be Lingayat or Veerashaiva-Lingayat - is a closed chapter now. Members of the community will now come together and take a decision,” Dr Patil told reporters after a meeting with Chief Minister Siddaramaiah.

“An expert committee will be formed to take the matter forward,” he said, clearly indicating his retreat.

Dr Patil also said the row involving Water Resources Minister M B Patil and the Siddaganga Mutt seer Shivakumara Swami had been settled. “(M B Patil) has already met the pontiff to clear the air on the confusion,” he said.

The demand for a separate religion tag for the Lingayat faith had divided the ruling Congress into two groups. M B Patil belonged to the group that demanded a separate religion called Lingayat. The group also included Higher Education Minister Basavaraj Rayareddy. Another group, which demanded a religion named Veerashaiva-Lingayat, comprised veteran leader Shamanur Shivashankarappa, his son and Horticulture Minister S S Mallikarjun and Municipal Administration Minister Eshwar B Khandre.

Revenue Minister Kagodu Thimmappa, meanwhile, said the idea of a separate Lingayat religion was “an illusion” and critiqued the way the campaign was headed. “If you want a religion as envisioned by Basavanna, you must hit the streets to demand abolition of the caste system. Instead, it will simply get restricted to speeches,” he told reporters.

'No Hindu religion'

Asked why his office did not sport a Basavanna portrait as mandated, Thimmappa replied: “I’m not into that madness. I’ve been involved in the socialist movement for the past five decades.”

Thimmappa went on to question the very existence of the Hindu religion. “There are only castes in India. People are leading lives based on caste beliefs. Who founded Hindu religion? What is the basis to call it a religion? Everybody is talking about Hindu unity, but there’s no such thing,” he said.