Giving Lingayats Minority Status Will Deny Them SC Benefits: MHA

The home ministry said that it may have “widespread implications” if other Hindu communities raise similar demands.

CM Siddaramaiah with the section of seers supporting new religion for Lingayats.

(Photo: The Quint)

The Ministry of Home Affairs on Saturday said that if the Lingayats are given a minority status, it will deprive them of the Scheduled Caste status. The ministry, in a note, also said that the move may have “widespread implications” if other Hindu communities raise similar demands.

The Congress government in Karnataka had recommended the Centre to give the community a minority status before the schedule of the Assembly elections was announced. 

This move by the Congress comes as an attempt to make an impact on the elections in the state where the Lingayats are considered a major BJP support base, comprising about 17 percent of the electorate, The Indian Express reported.

“Any move to declare Lingayats/Veerashaiva as an independent religion would have widespread implications. Arya Samaj, Radhaswami, Vaishnava and a few other sects of the Hinduism also do not adhere to typical Brahminical Hinduism,” The Indian Express quoted the Home Ministry note as saying.

The Registrar General of India has told the Home Ministry that under the Section 2 (c) of the National Commission of Minorities Act, 1992, Muslims, Christian, Sikhs, Buddhists, Parsis and Jains have been classified as minorities.

A senior home ministry official was quoted by the Indian Express as saying:

We are still examining the proposal of the state government and a final decision is yet to be taken.

The Karnataka government had notified the move on 22 March while sending a communication to the ministry on 23 March seeking “recognition of Lingayats and Veerashaivas who follow Basavanna’s philosophy and teachings as a religious minority under section 2(c) of the National Commission of Minorities Act, 1992.”

(With inputs from The Indian Express.)