UPA govt refused religion tag to Veerashaiva-Lingayat in 2013

The UPA government headed by Manmohan Singh had,  in 2013, rejected the demand for granting separate religion status to Veerashaiva-Lingayat, saying it is a sect of Hinduism.  

The office of the Registrar General of India (RGI), in its communication, to then Home Minister (Sushil Kumar Shinde) on November 14, 2013, said, "the demand made by All India Veerashaiva Mahasabha for treating Veerashaiva-Lingayat as independent religion is apparently not logical and correct".

The Union home minister's office sought a reply from the RGI, following the plea by Shamanur Shivashankarappa, president, All India Veerashaiva Mahasabha. The Mahasabha made a request to the Ministry for separate code number/column/abbreviation for recording the religion of Veerashaiva-Lingayat in the census form and to recognise Veerashaiva-Lingayat community as an independent religion.

The Mahasabha said Veerashaiva-Lingayats had more than four crore followers, which was more than that of Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism. While claiming that "Veerashaiva-Lingayat was a sect of Hindu and not an independent religion," the RGI clarified that a writ petition was filed by the Veerashaiva Mahasabha in the Karnataka High Court, seeking directions to instruct the Census Organisation to provide a separate code for Veerashaiva/Lingayat in the census.

It was decided by the RGI with the approval of the home minister that no separate code was required to be given to Veerashaiva/Lingayat, irrespective of whether they are a sect of Hindu or an independent religion, said the letter, a copy of which also sent to Shivashankarappa.

The RGI said, "If Veerashiva-Lingayat is treated as a separate religion by providing separate code/column, all Scheduled Castes professing the Veerashiva-Lingayat sect will lose their Constitutional status, since SCs can be only from Hindu, Buddhist and Sikh, along with their sects."

The letter said, "Standard ethnographic literatures also substantiate the fact that Lingayat/Veerashaiva is a sect evolved from Hindusim, but it rejects completely the traditional temple cult dominated by Brahmin priest. Instead, they worship a small abstract symbol of Shiva-the linga which every member of the family wears. As described by C B Brown (Jangams in Madras Journal Literature of Science, January 1840), Lingayats are anti-Brahminical worshippers of Siva known as Virshaiva or Lingadharis, who are easily recognised by their wearing small idol either hung on the breast or bound on the arm. They are disciples of Basava, whom they regard as a form of God Shiva. They pray to the images they wear, which they salute as Basava."

Thurstone (in Castes and Tribes of Southern India) has mentioned that Lingayats have been aptly described as a peaceable race of Hindu Puritans. Their religion is a simple one. They acknowledged only one God Siva and reject the other two persons of Hindu Triad,  said the letter.