Bengaluru, Sept 5: Water Resources Minister M B Patil has said that the Lingayat community was even ready to move the Supreme Court to realise social reformer Basavanna’s “dream” of a separate religion.
But before that, the community would wait for the state government’s mandate on a separate religious status to the Lingayat community. He also said that there was no point in reaching out to the Centre at a time when the state government was constituting an expert committee to look into the appeals of both the Lingayats and the Veerashaivas.
Patil, who jointly addressed the media with his ministerial colleague Vinay Kulkarni in Bengaluru on Monday, said the community would provide all the required documentary evidence to the expert committee to be constituted by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah.
“We want to ensure that we furnish all the appropriate documents to the expert committee, which will then submit its recommendations to the chief minister. We will make an appeal to the Centre only if the state government fails to heed to our demands. If both the state and the Centre fail us, then we will move the Supreme Court,” said Patil.
Once the minority status is given to the community, people under all these sub-sects would benefit in education and employment and also gain financial stability.
He also said that till date, leaders representing the Lingayat community had become ministers under the Lingayat quota. Also, it was time for Veerashaivas to stop contesting on a Lingayat quota.
Patil said that at present, there was a divide between the “believers” and “non-believers” (Veerashaivas) of Basavanna. He said neither the Congress government nor the Lingayat community was trying to politicise the issue or divide the community, especially when the Assembly elections were a few months away.
‘BSY playing politics’
The minister instead accused BJP state president B S Yeddyurappa of indulging in politics over religion. He said Yeddyurappa, despite signing a petition seeking a separate religious status for Lingayat-Veerashaiva community four years ago, was today singing a different tune.
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