Lingayat Forum welcomes constitution of expert panel

The Lingayat forum which has been spearheading a movement for according minority religion status to Lingayats, on Monday, welcomed the government's move to constitute an expert committee to examine the issue.

Addressing a press conference here, forum president Basavaraj Horatti and convenor S M Jamdar said five groups which had sought separate religion tag for the Lingayats are yet to come to a consensus. "The expert committee has been constituted to study the memoranda submitted by the groups and then make rercommendations to the government," they said.

The All India Veerashaiva Mahasabha and seers of influential mutts last week had questioned the "constitutional validity" of the committee that the Karnataka State Minorities Commission had formed. A Veerashaiva-Lingayat awareness rally held in Gadag on Sunday had even urged the government to dissolve the seven-member panel.

Horatti said a section of seers who were affiliated to the BJP were trying to create confusion by raising such demands. He said there was opposition to the formation of the panel as those who claimed that Lingayat and Veerashaiva were the same had no documents to prove their stand.

"The Jains and Sikhs have got separate religion tag. Yet, they are considered Hindus. Our stand is the same. We are seeking the religion tag for recognition," Horatti said.

The duo said they had no objection to the composition of the panel headed by retired High Court judge Justice H N Nagmohan Das and comprising Kannada Development Authority chairman S G Siddaramaiah, Purushothama Bilimale, chairperson of the Kannada chair of the Jawaharlal Nehru University, writer Ramakrishna Marathe among others. Jamdar said ministers and MLAs in Maharashtra had supported the forum's stand.