Minority Position

A tweet and a political feat바카라�bet­ween these two separate events in a week바카라�s span appeared some cracks that Karnataka바카라�s ruling Congress has struggled to paper over. The first was a loud complaint about the selection of candidates, not uncommon in election season, and yet surprising because it came as a tweet by senior Congress lea­der M. Veerappa Moily바카라�s son. The second event, certainly more politically significant and risky, was Chief Minister Siddaramaiah바카라�s decisive move to recognise the large and powerful Lingayat community as a ­religious minority.

In the run-up to Monday바카라�s announcement on Lingayats, there was enough rumbling to suggest the Congress was in a tricky position. The key issue바카라�one that has been debated endlessly over the past year바카라�was whether the Lingayats and Veerashaivas, who form a significant section of the state바카라�s electorate, were to be seen as distinct from each other after long years of a synonymous coexistence. While pressure mounted from religious seers arrayed on both sides of the ­argument, there were indications that prominent Lingayat ministers in Siddaramaiah바카라�s cabinet like M.B. Patil, S.S. Mallikarjun, Vinay Kulkarni and Eshwar Khandre too stood divided on the issue.

바카라�No, they are not divided; the decision was unanimous,바카라� Karnataka law minister T.B. Jayachandra told Outlook after a cabinet meeting that went on for close to three hours. It took time, he explains, bec­ause there were long discussions and all ministers were individually asked for their opinion. 바카라�Of course, there were some people advocating for Veerashaivas to be included. So we have said Veera­shaivas can also be a part of the Lingayat community.바카라� In essence, the government appears to have sidestepped the contentious notion of splitting the community by including Veerashaivas within the definition, while also leaving it to the Centre to ultimately ratify the decision.

While the BJP바카라�s senior leaders were quick to label it as an attempt by the Congress to divide Hindus, the response from the community바카라�s religious leaders was mixed. Some Veerashaiva seers acc­used the government of trying to divide the community for political reasons.

To put it in a snapshot, when the government puts out a notification, the Lingayat faith would become the seventh religious minority group that Karnataka recognises along with Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains and Parsis. For the record, however, it was in Maharashtra, home to about 1.2 crore Lingayats, that such a move was contemplated first. 바카라�Maharashtra had done it in 2014, but before they could send it to the government of India, the elections were ann­ounced and so it remained there,바카라� says S.M. Jaamdar, a retired Karnataka IAS officer who is part of the Lingayat Swatantra Dharma Vedike, a forum that has been demanding the minority status.

According to Jaamdar, the impact in Karnataka would be mostly in education because Lingayats run numerous institutions from schools to professional colleges. 바카라�That바카라�s why the Lingayat community is highly literate today,바카라� he says. 바카라�But that was not percolating to the poorer sections of the community. Now, under minority status, they can reserve up to 50 per cent of the seats for Lingayats and poorer sections will be able to get cheaper access.바카라�

The Lingayats comprise nearly 99 sub-castes, some of them eligible for reservation as backward classes in the state. 바카라�In no way will minority status affect the quotas,바카라� says an expert. 바카라�Almost all religious minorities in Karnataka are in the backward classes list.바카라�

Like most people who argue in favour of the minority tag, Jaamdar says it would eventually end the 바카라�hegemonic control바카라� of the community by Veerashaivas, who also hold on to tenets of Hinduism such as Vedic rituals, besides Basava바카라�s philosophy. On that note, the debate as we know it now, draws back to several hundred years of cultural history.

The political fallout, observers say, isn바카라�t clear yet. And nobody is sure whether the Congress would gain significantly from it. Traditionally, a large chunk of the BJP바카라�s support in Karnataka comes from the Lingayat community.

바카라�The demand to recognise the Lingayat faith as a religion is not new. The government has only recognised a fact acknow­ledged as far back as the Mysore Census of 1871,바카라� went Siddara­maiah바카라�s reply to the BJP바카라�s accusations. The res­ponse from the BJP바카라�s state president B.S. Yed­iyurappa, a Lingayat himself, was more guarded. 바카라�We have decided that the BJP will stand by the decision taken by the Akhila Bharata Veerashaiva Maha­sabha. Now that the state government has sent its recommendations, I urge the Mahasabha to study the same and guide the society,바카라� he said. Here바카라�s where the Lingayat issue doesn바카라�t lend itself to an easy analysis because many of the Mahasabha바카라�s top office-bearers are also Congressmen, like the veteran leader Shamanur Shivashankarappa.

For the moment, at least, Siddaramaiah appears to have survived the threat of a rift among his cabinet colleagues over the Lingayat issue. But then there바카라�s that other tricky issue, wholly unrelated, over sel­ecting candidates for the assembly polls flagged by the controversial tweet of Moily바카라�s son Harsha. Though Harsha distanced himself from the tweet, which seemingly attacked the state바카라�s PWD minister, H.C. Maha­devappa, over 바카라�money in politics바카라�, the Karnataka Con­gress nevertheless issued him a showcause notice. But, by then, the controversial tweet had alr­eady triggered discussion over the contest for party tickets. Besides, there바카라�s also speculation that the sons of several leaders, including Sid­daramaiah바카라�s son Yathi­ndra, are hoping to stand for elections.

Last month, many Congress partymen were frowning over some lateral ent­rants into the party, especially Ashok Kheny from Bidar and Anand Singh from Bellary, both of whom the Congress has attacked in the past on various charges. 바카라�There is some restlessness about taking people into the party without much consultation,바카라� says a Congress leader on the newly inducted members. 바카라�These things have worried workers a little bit.바카라� Of course, fissures within the Congress aren바카라�t anything new. But they had been somewhat subdued over the past couple of years with Siddaramaiah, whom many party leaders looked upon as an outsider, partly making him neutral vis-a-vis old rifts.

Some skirmishes, in a party like Congress, are inevitable, says political commentator Sandeep Shastri. Of course, it happens elsewhere too. The BJP, for instance, had a long bout of ­infighting among its state leaders before the central leadership stepped in to get things into shape.

바카라�The biggest challenge the Congress is going to face is how to ensure that internal fissures in the party don바카라�t damage its prospects,바카라� says Shastri. 바카라�Right from the 1990s, if anything has really damaged the Congress prospects, it was the contradictions within.바카라�

By Ajay Sukumaran in Bangalore