Political regionalism
It is unfortunate that the Karnataka state cabinet led by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah approved the recommendation of the Justice Nagamohan Das-headed expert committee to accord the status of minorities to “Lingayat and Veerashaiva Lingayat”. It would mean that Lingayats and Veerashaiva Lingayats, who are one of Karnataka’s leading communities, will have special privileges under Section 25, 28, 29 and 30 of the Constitution.These include the right to
profess and propagate their religion, access to special religious instruction and worship and, perhaps most importantly, the freedom to run and manage minority educational institutions. That latter is sure to benefit several Lingayat educational trusts, which exist all over the state, but especially flourish in north Karnataka. Remember, Lingayats already enjoy 15 per cent reservation under the categories 2A and 3B of the Other Backward Classes in Karnataka and Telangana. With this particular demand having been around for years, the question, of course, is the timing. And that clearly is political -- the Congress is desperate to hold on to and the BJP determined to breach and set up its gateway to the south. All this has been obscured as the battle for Karnataka gains momentum. What could have been a debate on the assimilative genius of Hinduism will now be reduced to a discussion about electoral mathematics and vote banks. — P Arihanth