Demand for Separate Lingayat religion

Why in news?

The Karnataka government decided to recommend to the Centre to grant religious minority status to the Lingayat community.

What is the state government decision?

Lingayats account for nearly 17 per cent of the state’s population.
The demand for separate religion tag and minority status is a long pending demand of the Lingayat community.
The State Cabinet has decided to accept the recommendations of the state minority commission in this regard.
The religious minority recognition will thus be granted under the Karnataka Minorities Act.
The status will cover two factions of the community — Lingayats and Veerashaiva Lingayats.
The State Cabinet also decided to forward the demand to the Centre for notifying under the Central Minority Commission Act.

Who are the Lingayats?

The Lingayats are strict monotheists.
They instruct the worship of only one God, namely, Linga (Shiva).
‘Linga’ here does not mean Linga established in temples.
It is rather the universal consciousness qualified by the universal energy (Shakti).
Status - Lingayats are currently classified as a Hindu sub-caste called “Veerashaiva Lingayats”.
There is a general misconception that Lingayatism is a subsect of Shaivism, which is itself a sect of Hinduism.
There is also a misconception that the Lingayats are Shudras.
But textual evidence and reasoning suggests that Lingayatism is not a sect or subsect of Hinduism, but an independent religion.

How did it evolve?

The community actually evolved from a 12th century movement led by social reformer and philosopher-saint Basavanna.
It emerged as a reactionary force against Hinduism.
In essence, Lingayats remain staunch worshippers of the Hindu God Shiva.
But they strongly protest against Hindu social practices such as caste discrimination and wearing of the sacred thread.
As, caste discrimination is central to the post-Manu Hinduism.
Basavanna and his associates thus asked their followers to not observe it.
The Basavanna movement helped downtrodden sections of Hindu society break the chains of caste and seek the truth themselves.
A person undergoing initiation in Lingayatism will be given an ishtalinga.
The person henceforth becomes superior and therefore, all Lingayats must be treated as equal.

Why is the demand for separate religion status?

The argument for Lingayats being a separate religion has existed in the mainstream for over seven decades.
Complexity - The status is complicated because the Lingayats still ascribe to some of the aspects of Hinduism.
The demand was also weakened by its subsumption within the Veerashaiva nomenclature.
This happened after large number of Hindu Veerashaivas embraced Lingayatism while continuing to follow Hindu practices.
Relevance - Writings by Basavanna 800 years ago prove that Lingayats were a religious entity separate from Hindus.
But the teachings of Basavanna are slowly losing their distinct place in society.
Concern - The increasing subsumption within the Veerashaiva and Hindu nomenclature, and decreasing importance for Basavanna's preaching are concerns among the Lingayats.
The identification as a separate religion is thus seen as a crucial need at this juncture, for Lingayatism to survive.

Dichotomy - In the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 and Hindu Succession Act, 1956, Lingayats, Buddhists, Jains and Sikhs are included among Hindus.
But Buddhists, Sikhs and Jains were identified by state and central governments as minority religions in 1993, 1963 and 2014 respectively.
Only Lingayats remain unrecognised under a separate religious status.

Demand - Several massive rallies and meetings are organised, calling for the status of an independent religion.
There is a demand that the community be identified only as “Lingayat”, and not “Veerashaiva Lingayat” in caste certificates.

Once recognised, Lingayats would be able to avail benefits under Articles 25, 28, 29 and 30 of the Constitution.
The provisions under these deal with freedom of religion and rights of minorities.

Source: The Hindu