Panel to decide on religion tag for Lingayat

DHNS
December 23, 2017

Bengaluru, Dec 23: A seven-member expert committee has been constituted to look into demands for a minority religion tag for the Lingayat and Veerashaiva faiths, even as all three major political parties - the Congress, the BJP and the JD(S) - tread cautiously on the sensitive issue ahead of the Assembly elections.

Retired High Court Justice H N Nagmohan Das will head the committee that has been formed by the Karnataka State Minorities Commission. The committee, sources said, has been given four weeks to examine demands made by various religious groups in this regard and submit a report.

This comes days after Chief Minister Siddaramaiah asked the minorities commission to look into demands from various political and religious leaders who have sought minority religion status in the Lingayat and Veerashaiva faiths. This is also an indication that the government is in a hurry to draw curtains on this issue, which is considered a political hot potato with polls round the corner.

According to sources, the committee comprises Kannada Development Authority chairman S G Siddaramaiah; Jawaharlal Nehru University Kannada Language chair Purushothama Bilimale; University of Mysore political science professor Muzaffar Assadi; former backward classes commission chairman C S Dwarakanath; journalist Sarjoo Katkar and litterateur Ramakrishna Marathe.

The Veerashaiva and Lingayat camps, comprising leaders from the Congress, have been at loggerheads over the issue. The Veerashaiva group comprises veteran Congress leader Shamanur Shivashankarappa, his son and Horticulture Minister S S Mallikarjun and Municipalities Minister Eshwar B Khandre. They hold that Veerashaiva and Lingayat are the same and that the separate religion should be christened Veerashaiva-Lingayat. Veerashaivas say their religion predates 12th-century reformer Basavanna, revered as the founder of the Lingayat faith. Veerashaivas revere a pantheon of holy men.

The Lingayat camp, led by Water Resources Minister M B Patil, Mines and Geology Minister Vinay Kulkarni and Higher Education Minister Basavaraj Rayareddy, argues that Veerashaiva and Lingayat are radically different, and the religion must be called Lingayat. This group says it goes by the ideals of Basavanna.

BJP state chief B S Yeddyurappa said his party will side with the All India Veerashaiva Mahasabha, whereas JD(S) supremo H D Deve Gowda has accused the ruling Congress of creating a divide among Veerashaivas and Lingayats.

Comments

AK Shetty
 - 
Saturday, 23 Dec 2017

Shows how much religion screwed up modern Indians due to reservation menace. Time to abolish religion based, caste based reservation. Even Ramakrishna mutt tried to call itself a religion few decades ago (mainly for tax purpose I think)

Anonymous
 - 
Saturday, 23 Dec 2017

I think this demand as per constitution is correct . If anybody has reservation , then they should stash their personal opinions in their bags, and check laws first before making looser opinions. why not you idiots then oppose Jain , and Sikhs and Buddhists why to give biased opinions to Lingayats. Are you not biased? why not to strip off all minority status of Christian , Muslims, Jain and Sikhs then ? Correct laws and constitutions first then talk, and stop rubbish
I see lot of government land grab by "Jains" in name of educational institute in all over Karnataka ..anybody asked why they got that as minority benefits ..no ..why 2% percent people of state need 5% land of state to be grabbed ? this is OK and then if other people want to do in their way ...why is this ado ...

Mohan
 - 
Saturday, 23 Dec 2017

Yeah nice time to hit it.elections are just round the corner!!

Congi
 - 
Saturday, 23 Dec 2017

Vatican's Breaking-India mission smelling of success.

Chandan
 - 
Saturday, 23 Dec 2017

It's a internal matter of Kannadigas.

Ganesh
 - 
Saturday, 23 Dec 2017

Lingayat row should end conclude soon, otherwise it may affect in election also

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News Network
March 11,2020

Mar 11: Two activists of Sangh Parivar have been arrested by the police in Tamil Nadu’s Coimbatore for hurling a petrol bomb at a mosque in Ganapathy on March 5.

The miscreants had hurled petrol bombs at the front gate of Hidayathul Sunnath Jamath Mosque at Vedhambal Nagar near Ganapathy in Coimbatore around 1 am on March 5. Since the bomb did not explode, nobody was injured in the incident.

Following a complaint from the Secretary of the Jama’ath, the police had formed three separate teams to nab the miscreants.

Based on tip-offs, the police detained BJP member Pandi (41) and VHP member Akhil (23), both from Rathnapuri in Coimbatore for inquiry.  The duo has also been remanded to judicial custody.

According to a statement by the Coimbatore police, the accused told the police that they hurled petrol bomb at the mosque to protest against the attack against Anand, a Hindu Munnani functionary a few days ago. The accused also reportedly told the police that they were planning to create more chaos.

Madukkarai Anand, the District Secretary of Hindu Munnani was attacked on March 4, while he was returning home after participating in a pro-CAA dharna organised by the BJP and allied parties in Gandhipuram.

He was allegedly followed by men on two motorbikes, who attacked him with rods. Anand suffered head injuries in the attack and was admitted to a hospital. The Podanur police registered a case for attempt to murder based on a complaint and had also formed special teams to nab the accused. However, no one has been apprehended in that case till now.

Based on the statements given by the accused, the police arrested the two men, seized the two-wheeler they used, two cell phones and the things they used to manufacture the petrol bomb.

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News Network
May 3,2020

Bengaluru, May 3: Renowned Kannada poet KS Nissar Ahmed passed away on May 3.

Winner of several awards including Karnataka Sahitya Akademi Award for Poetry, Rajyotsava Award, Padma Shri among others, Ahmed died at the age of 84

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News Network
April 18,2020

Bengaluru, Apr 18: With 12 fresh cases of the COVID-19 infection, including one woman, the total number of novel coronavirus cases in Karnataka surged to 371 on Saturday.

The sources said that as many as three new positive cases were reported from Mysuru district, followed by two each from Kalaburagi, Bhagalkote, one each case from Vijayapura, Belagavi, Dharwad, Gadag and Mandya, districts on Saturday.

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