Lingayat community leaders in Karnataka have decided to form a Forum to up the ante on their demand for a separate religion status.
The Leaders have said that they will float an all-India front, which will be an umbrella body of all Lingayat outfits in the country. A final decision on this will be taken after the Akhila Bharata Veerashaiva Mahasabha meeting scheduled to be held on August 10 in Bengaluru.
In a press conference held at Kalaburgi, the leaders said that though “Mahasabha” considers Lingayats and Veerashaivas the same, they don’t agree. “We hold that Veerashaiva and Lingayat as different and hence demand independent status for the Lingayat community. A meeting of leaders representing both will be convened in Bengaluru on August 10. If the Veerashaiva Mahasabha continues to adhere to its stand, we will begin to float an Akhila Bharata Linghayat Mahasabha bringing all Lingayat organisations and religious institutions together,” Sanjay Makal, a Lingayat leader.
Speaking at the Press conference he added that, Veerashaiva’s practises the principles advocated by the vedas, aagamas, shastras, puranas and other texts that are part of Hindu religion. Hence the earlier applications for religion tag to Veerashaiva/Lingayat were rejected outright. But now they solid material to demand independent religion status to Lingayat alone and that they will be successful.
The Lingayat versus Veerashaiva feud has taken several complicated turns over the past few weeks. In fact Lingayat Mahasabha filed a defamation complaint against the Rambhapuri Jagadguru Prasannarenuka Veera Someshwara Rajadeshikendra Shivacharya Mahaswamiji, the head of the Veerashaiva math based out of Chikamagaluru, had said that Veershaivas and Lingayats are the same.
According to the Chandra Mouli (State Lingayat head) Pontiff has issued a statement that Mata Mahadevi is the head of the Lingayat mutt Basava Dharma Peetha had in 1962 written a love letter to Lingananda Swami (Guru of the Lingayaths) has initiated Mata Mahadevi into the mutt. Following the Rambhapuri seer’s statement followers of Mata Mahadevi shouted slogans against the Rambhapuri seer asking him to tender an unconditional apology to the woman seer and filed a defamation case.
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