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Lingayat issue: politically motivated

Last Updated 23 March 2018, 03:56 IST

The Karnataka government's decision to grant the status of a separate religion to the Lingayats is wrong and ill-considered, taken solely with an eye on forthcoming assembly elections in the state. It will give the community the status of a religious minority. The government took the decision on the basis of the report of the Nagamohan Das committee which it had appointed to study the matter. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah had perhaps made up his mind and was only going through the motions of decision-making and waiting for the elections to approach to make the announcement. The demand is many decades old, with a section of the Lingayat community persisting with it for a long time. It has also been considered by courts and governments in the past. The Karnataka government, having taken its decision, has to write to the Centre to grant the status to the community. Siddaramaiah hopes to put the BJP in a quandary by forcing it to take a position on the matter.

The decision has electoral intent writ clearly between its lines. The Lingayat community is the major support base of the BJP. The Congress benefitted from the division of the community's votes in the last assembly election when B S Yedyurappa split from the BJP and contested under the banner of his own party. Now that Yeddyurappa is back in the BJP, Siddaramaiah hopes to effect a similar split in the Lingayat community as well as prevent a consolidation of Hindu votes. The Lingayat community is indeed divided on the matter, and the Congress' hope is that the party will be able to win the votes of those who support the decision. The BJP will have difficulty in reacting to the decision. It is estimated that the shift of even a small section of Lingayat votes would give an advantage to the Congress, especially in closely contested seats.  

The government's decision has divided the community, and clashes have been reported from some parts of the state. There are differences of opinion within the Congress also. The Congress-led UPA government had rejected the proposal, and the party's high command is said to have wanted it to be kept on hold, but Siddaramaiah has gone ahead with it anyway. What the state government has done is to mix religion with politics and cynically use the mixture for electoral ends. The Congress has done what it has always accused the BJP of doing. Siddaramaiah may gain electorally in the short term from his decision, but the gains will be at a cost to society and the state's polity in the longer run. It also carries a risk and may well boomerang on the party.  

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(Published 22 March 2018, 18:24 IST)

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