Bengaluru: The long-debated demand for separate religion status for Lingayats resurfaced on Sunday as several community seers gathered in Bengaluru and adopted five key resolutions during the ‘Basava Culture Campaign-2025’, organized by Lingayat Matadeeshara Okkoota.
The resolutions stressed the need to raise awareness about religious recognition for Lingayats while underscoring national unity. “All Lingayats are Indians first. The Lingayat religion is the religion of Kannada. Country comes before religion. Always strive for the unity of the country with national consciousness,” one of the resolutions stated.
Describing Lingayat religion as the greatest faith founded by Basaveshwara and the Sharanas in the 12th century, the gathering urged continued efforts to secure official recognition so that Lingayats could avail benefits and reservations on par with Buddhists, Jains and Sikhs.
Highlighting the principles of equality and brotherhood, the resolutions called for embracing smaller and backward sub-castes within the community, encouraging inter-caste marital ties and overcoming internal divisions.
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, along with ministers M B Patil, Sharan Prakash Patil and Laxmi Hebbalkar, attended the valedictory function.
The push for separate religious identity has a contentious political history in Karnataka. In 2018, the then Congress government led by Siddaramaiah had recommended minority status for Lingayats, a move widely seen as contributing to the party’s electoral losses, especially in Lingayat-dominated constituencies. Several leaders associated with the campaign also faced defeat.
The debate has long divided the community, with one faction, led by the Akhila Bharata Veerashaiva Mahasabha, insisting that Veerashaivas and Lingayats are the same and deserve recognition together, while another group maintains that Lingayats alone should be recognized separately, viewing Veerashaivas as a Shaiva sect within Hinduism.
That division was visible again on Sunday, with BJP community leaders and Mahasabha-associated ministers staying away from the event.