In a corner of the bustling street leading to the Moorusavira Matha in Hubli, the familiar rhythm of rotis being pounded into shape wafts up from a tiny shop next to a Lingayat khanavali. It is not far from where BJP president Amit Shah바카라s election road show is passing by, with saffron flags, drums and slogans. Here, you get both the brittle and soft rotis that are the vital underpinnings of the meal served with sabzi, curd and shenga (groundnut) chutney in these khanavalis or canteens across the wide swathe of northern Karnataka where the Lingayat community is spread out. In sharp contrast to this common menu, there바카라s an unfamiliar ingredient that바카라s been tossed into the election spread in these parts.
Manjunath brings his dilemma into perspective, while managing the store-front with a toddler in tow while two women in an inner room beat out the rotis. From his customers, he hears both sides of the debate. Some insist that if the Lingayat faith gets recognised as a minority religion, it would help with their children바카라s education. Others argue that it is wrong to break up the community into Lingayats and Veerashaivas.
In the build-up to Basava Jayanthi this week, the political waters have only got muddier. Karnataka goes to polls on May 12, but there바카라s no clear indication how the Lingayat voter will respond. It isn바카라t merely tearing open the rift between religious seers that is making it difficult. Some are publicly endorsing the ruling Congress that had recommended the minority religion status, and stepping up pressure on the BJP government at the Centre. Earlier this month, BJP national president Amit Shah바카라s comment that the Centre would not act on the Karnataka proposal brought nearly 40 Lingayat seers together in Bangalore for a press meet to make their stand clear. The minority religion demand will be taken to its logical conclusion, they said. In the middle of a poll, that바카라s a bit of a wild card.
바카라This (discussion) is only at an intellectual level. For the common man, it바카라s a non-issue,바카라 insists BJP legislator Arvind Bellad whose seat covers much of Dharwad, Karnataka바카라s cultural capital upstate that is home to writers and, equally, Hindustani music. 바카라Till five years ago, I did not know the difference and I바카라m a Lingayat. My children don바카라t know what the issue is about.바카라 It바카라s a fair enough observation you will commonly hear at many places. But it바카라s also true that the Veerashaiva-Lingayat debate has been a vocal one, getting prime time on television debates and, further, by way of books and pamphlets often disseminated by the influential mathas.
Then, you hear about activist groups in Belgaum, Bijapur and Bidar rallying to create public opinion. 바카라It바카라s good that it has come out now. People will know what the facts are,바카라 says Sangamesh Saundattimath, 75, a professor of vachana literature who taught at the Karnataka University in Dharwad. Over the past year, his writings arguing against creating a wedge between Veerashaivas and Lingayats were published by the Rambhapuri Matha, one of the five pancha peethas (religious centres) which are now pitted against a large number of Lingayat mathas.
The terms Veerashaiva and Lingayat, the Rambhapuri seer wrote in his preface to the book, were as synonymous as Bharat and India. 바카라Actually, this has for long been debated at a limited high level, among scholars,바카라 says Dr Saundattimath. 바카라Now, because of the elections, some people think they are breaking our dharma and that we should teach them a lesson. So, there might be a bit of an impact (in the polls),바카라 he tells Outlook.
It바카라s a complicated issue for many reasons. At one level, it appears as an assertion by a large section of Lingayat mathas that run hundreds of schools and colleges across Karnataka which would benefit from the minority religion recognition. It바카라s also a protest against the pancha peethas that have traditionally claimed an upper hand in the community though they are fewer in number. The main grouse against them is that they do not recognise Basavanna as the founder of the Lingayat religion but instead claim that Veerashaivas existed before the 12th-century social reformer. Alongside this, differences crop up between the two groups of religious gurus바카라both in terms of worship and protocol.
So even when seers gather, some point out, the pancha peetha swamijis are seated in an elevated position compared to others. This and some of their rituals highlight the social rigidity that Basavanna rebelled against, claim the Lingayat seers. 바카라They were rajgurus, so they were given a throne and crown. The kings went but the tradition continued. That바카라s all,바카라 counters Dr Saundattimath. Now, as a fallout of this conflict, several religious gurus have supported a new association, Jagathika Lingayat Mahasabha, which rivals the All India Veerashaiva Mahasabha that used to be the main representative body of the community and is mostly led by political leaders.
Tontadarya matha seer Siddalinga Swami says they have no problem whoever comes to power. 바카라But if we abandon this movement now, we may not get such an opportunity again in our lifetimes,바카라 he told a recent press conference in Bangalore. The Tontadarya matha is located in Gadag, an hour바카라s drive from Dharwad, where both groups held huge rallies over the past few months. 바카라Why the Lingayat movement is a big headache for Amit Shah is because we are saying that Lingayats are not Hindus,바카라 he says, as the activists in the audience periodically broke into slogans such as Bharata desha, Jai Basavesha. Indeed, many of those who protest any attempt to break the community into Veerashaivas and Lingayats will still concede that the Lingayat faith propagated by Basavanna is an independent religion.
While the BJP is treading carefully on this issue, Shah has been visiting several important mathas across the state. It바카라s a common poll-time practice for politicians because of the regard local people have for the seers, but it has become especially relevant given the current mood. 바카라What the BJP did, when we saw Siddaramaiah바카라s move to cut into Lingayat-Veerashaiva was to just wait for people to realise what was going on,바카라 says Bellad. 바카라So, in the process (chief minister) Siddaramaiah and his way of doing politics got exposed.바카라 Counters a senior Congress leader: 바카라Some feel there will be good impact, some say there will be no impact. But if there was anger or wrath, we would have already experienced it by now.바카라
In any Karnataka election, the Lingayat factor matters. It바카라s something the Congress learnt at great cost in the early 1990s when it alienated itself from the community by the offhand sacking of Veerendra Patil as CM. The Congress has never been able to reclaim its support which went to the Janata Dal. When the Dal split, the votes got eventually transferred to the BJP. Since 2008, when the Lingayats firmly backed B.S. Yediyurappa, again over a perceived unfair treatment to him, the community바카라s vote has been fairly predictable.
The Lingayats are generally believed to constitute 17 per cent of Karnataka바카라s electorate. Ever since the minority religion controversy began, experts have further dissected that chunk to peg the Veerashaiva population at around three per cent of the community. 바카라Now, if you assume that the Congress has no vote base in the entire community, whatever votes come their way will be a gain,바카라 says one observer. Many BJP leaders too, he says, were wary of this issue cropping up before elections because it knew it was a potential spoiler. 바카라There will definitely be an impact in north Karnataka and 바카라Hyderabad-Karnataka바카라,바카라 he says. Apart from Dalits and Muslims, this region also comprises a significant population of Kurubas, the community to which Siddaramaiah belongs.
A decade ago, the sympathy wave for Yediyurappa, combined with the might of the Reddy brothers, mining magnates from Bellary, helped the BJP sweep elections across the Lingayat heartland. Then, in 2013, the party바카라s voteshare splintered with a split in the party. This time, the party is back in one piece but then comes along the Lingayat issue.
Of course, there are other dynamics that come into play. The Veerashaiva-Lingayats have innumerable sub-castes; so competing candidates are often from the same caste. Besides, the mood also appears to differ. Says a Lingayat farmer from Yelburga in Koppal district: 바카라This is an issue only for you folks in Bangalore and on television, possibly. I바카라m not bothered about all this. Elections or not, we바카라ve got to toil anyway.바카라
There바카라s an afternoon drizzle in Sirigere village and along the main road leading to the serene environs of the Taralabalu matha from where a breeze carries the chorus of schoolchildren reciting vachanas. The matha, off the highway connecting Davanagere and Chitradurga in central Karnataka, is the seat of Shivamurthy Shivacharya Mahaswamiji, one of the few Lingayat pontiffs who has kept away from public pronouncements on the issue. He바카라s a Sanskrit scholar who also wrote a computer programme to analyse Sanskrit grammar.
Inside the matha, the junior seer Panditaradhya Shivacharya Swami spells out their view. 바카라Let the government give minority status or not. It doesn바카라t affect us. We believe the Lingayat faith is an independent one,바카라 he says. The monastery, he says, runs 260 institutions with 40,000 students across the state but isn바카라t attracted by the benefits that the minority status will bring. 바카라If they come, it바카라s welcome. But we will not ask anyone to recognise our faith as a minority religion just for that,바카라 he tells Outlook. The issue, he says, isn바카라t likely to affect the polls in these parts.
The Davanagere region has a significant Veerashaiva population unlike the districts to the north of the Tungabhadra where the Lingayats dominate. And, as the locals point out, it바카라s about the only place where there haven바카라t been rallies over the issue. But, at the same time, the Murugha matha pontiff from neighbouring Chitradurga put things plainly enough at the seers바카라 press conference last week. 바카라Sahakarakke sahakara (mutual cooperation)바카라 was the phrase he used even while he told reporters that 바카라there must be distance between religion and politics바카라. The agitation, he warned, will continue until the community gets minority status.
The election heat is only just starting to pick up in Karnataka, now that all the parties have finalised candidates. Will the Lingayat issue resonate loudly enough to swing the polls? And, if it does, which way will it swing? Ask most politicians and you바카라ll get a stock reply: answers on May 15.
By Ajay Sukumaran in Hubli
