Seer’s arrest: Parties tread with caution fearing Lingayat voters’ ire

There is a deafening silence on the part of three major political parties in Karnataka following the arrest of Shivamurthy Muruga Sharana, the seer of Sri Jagadguru Murugharajendra Mutt. The main reason: none want to antagonise the influential Lingayat vote base in the state. Further, there seems to be a rift among the groups in the Mutt and no party would like to be seen taking sides.

The arrest of the seer reportedly was delayed for a week as the police was said to be facing internal pressure from their bosses. However, media activism brought things to a head and the police could no longer afford to delay the arrest as the POCSO Act is cognisable and the accused has to be arrested and produced before the court immediately after the case is registered. Nevertheless, it is being said that the delay in the arrest might have helped the accused to destroy the evidence in such an important case.

Silence is golden for parties

Even after the FIR was registered through an NGO Odanadi in Mysuru and transferred to Chitradurga, where the incident is said to have happened, no political party commented on it. But Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai and Home Minister Araga Jnanendra couldn’t be seen ignoring a case filed under as important an Act as POCSO. So, they did comment, but limited themselves to saying that everything will be done according to the law and that police have been given a free hand.

Opposition leader Siddaramaiah also spoke only after the seer’s arrest. The Congress leader said the case is serious and the police should carry out the investigations impartially. Though he is an AHINDA (Minorities, Backward class and Dalits) leader, Siddaramaiah refrained from saying anything about the child victims even though one of them belongs to the Scheduled Caste. This attracted attention on the social media and netizens criticised Siddaramaiah’s role as opposition leader of the state.

Also read: Karnataka Congress adopts four-pronged strategy to woo Lingayats

JD(S) leader and former Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy too did not take any sides and asked the police to conduct an impartial investigation. He did not comment on the seer and cautiously claimed that as this was a very sensitive issue and people are emotional, there was no need to have a debate on it.

BJP MLA Basanagouda Patil Yatnal was the only one who gave a statement on the incident, but more than the rape he seemed to be more interested in the communally sensitive issue of Tipu Sultan. He said that the seer is facing such charges because he had supported Tipu Sultan. He also said that people who supported Tipu faced problems. “Vijay Mallya, who bought Tipu’s sword from London, suffered severe loss and is now absconding in the UK. Siddaramaiah lost his government and now this seer,” he claimed, trying to give a communal touch to the case.

The silence of the political parties is clearly rooted in electoral politics as the seer belongs to the powerful Lingayat community, which has lakhs of followers and devotees all over Karnataka. While the BJP is refraining from commenting on the issue as Lingayats are its main vote bank – in fact, there is speculation that it might have helped in delaying the case – the Congress is trying hard to appease Lingayats these days as it had lost the community’s support after the party removed Veerendra Patil from the CM’s post in 1990. The attempt to create a separate Lingayat religion also backfired on Congress during the last election.

Rift between groups in the Mutt

The rift between two groups within the Mutt – one supporting the Murugha seer and the other Mutt’s former administrator SK Basavarajan – too has made the waters murky. A case and a counter-case were filed and allegations in both are almost similar.

The POCSO case was registered against Dr Shivamurthy Murugha Sharana, Rashmi, the warden of Akkamahadevi hostel located at Murugha in Chitradurga, and junior pontiff Basavadithya, Paramashivaiah and Gangadharaiah.

Rashmi, the accused hostel warden, filed a separate complaint with the Chitradurga police against former administrator Basavarajan, his wife and ex-president of Chitradurga Zilla Panchayat, Soubhagha. The warden has accused the couple of kidnapping the girls and sexually harassing them. Interestingly, Basavarajan was dismissed from the administration a day after the case was registered against the seer. The internal politics in the Mutt were evident when the seer is said to have tried to negotiate with Basavarajan after having got a counter case filed against him.

A few days before his arrest, the seer addressed a gathering at his Mutt on August 29 and said that he will respect the law of the land and that he did not believe in escaping. He made this statement as there were rumours that he is trying to escape.

However, it is being said that an ‘influential’ person in the government tried to save the seer from being arrested but a missive from his Delhi bosses asked him to act as per the law.

The seer had given ‘Linga deekeshe’ (an official ceremony inviting a person into the Lingayat sect) to Rahul Gandhi on August 2 when the Congress leader had come to take part in the Siddaramotsva. This had irked the BJP as the seer had said Rahul Gandhi will achieve a higher position, hinting that he would become the Prime Minister.

Mutt’s strong political connections

The Jagadguru Murugharajendra Mutt, situated in Chitradurga, is a powerful Lingayat institution and is engaged in social, religious, educational and cultural activities. The Mutt gets its name from Murighendra Rajendra, who was the seer during 1640-1710. Bharamanna Nayaka, the king of Chitradurga, allotted the land and built the Mutt to show his respect.

It was earlier popularly known as Murugi Mutt which later became Murugha. People began to call the branch Mutts ‘Virakta Mutts’ and ‘Murige Mutts’ to show their devotion. The Mutt has its branches in all regions of the state and has lakhs of followers.

Also read: Arrested Lingayat seer remanded in police custody till September 5

The Mutt for long had strong political connections and it is said that rulers like Dodda Devaraja and Chikka Devaraj of Mysore, Qutub Badshah of Bhaganagar (Golkonda), Chatrapati Shivaji of Maratha kingdom, Dakina Desai of Gadag and Basavanta Nayaka of Harapanahalli, among many others including Muslim Nawabs, supported the Mutt.

But, it seems, political connections of the present seer may not be of much help as the rift within groups in the Mutt has forced them to keep quiet.