Ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, Siddaramaiah made Basavanna the cultural icon of Karnataka and also announced the setting up of the Vachana University next year. Pic: X
Karnataka: Congress woos Lingayats ahead of polls; BJP worried
Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, recently felicitated by 160 mutt heads, is going all out to woo the influential Lingayat community
It appears the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Karnataka is on a sticky wicket with the dominant Veerashaiva-Lingayat community, even as the Congress is doing its best to win them over ahead of the Lok Sabha polls.
The BJP, which faced a difficult situation in the run-up to the Assembly polls in Karnataka for incurring the wrath of the dominant Veerashaiva-Lingayat community (despite accommodating Basavaraja Bommai, from the Lingayat community) after BS Yediyurappa's exit as chief minister, is now grappling with a similar problem.
Lingayat problem again
Ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, the Lingayat seers are vehemently opposing the candidature of Union minister Prahlad Joshi, a Brahmin, as the BJP candidate in Dharwad constituency.
In an intriguing development, the Veerashaiva Lingayat seers from various mutts have set a deadline for the BJP high command to replace Prahlad Joshi in the Dharwad Lok Sabha constituency. The seers contend that Joshi had "ill-treated" Lingayat seers and the community and played a prominent role in Yediyurappa’s ouster in July 2021.
Yediyurappa stands his ground
Yediyurappa, who is involved in selecting candidates for this election, has categorically refused to change the candidate. This has aggravated the situation in the north-Karnataka region, where Veerashaiva-Lingayats are said to be the deciding factor in any poll.
Meanwhile, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) is against pandering to one community, saying that “for the party which claims to espouse the cause of Hindus have relied heavily on one caste group to win a state election was in itself a self-defeating strategy”.
But a senior RSS functionary, who spoke to The Federal, seeking anonymity, felt that the ruling Congress in Karnataka is using BJP's thorny equation with the Lingayats to its advantage.
Siddaramaiah woos Lingayats
Notably, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah is going all out to woo the Veerashaiva Lingayat community. He was even recently felicitated by 160 Lingayat mutt heads.
This community was happy with Siddaramaiah for declaring Basavanna as cultural ambassador, a move that is expected to win the Congress at least 18 seats in Karnataka. Siddaramaiah also announced the setting up of the Vachana University next year.
Vachanas are oral transmissions that preach Lingayat dharma. The university will be located in Basavakalyan, which is significant because of its cultural importance to the Lingayats. It is also home to the 108-foot statue of Basavanna, the 12th-century saint, social reformer, and leader of the Lingayats.
Siddaramaiah is a known admirer of Basavanna, who was anti-caste and egalitarian. He announced Basavanna as the cultural icon of Karnataka since Basavanna wanted to build a humane society without caste, class and inequality. And, truly believes that democratic values are inherent in the teachings of Basavanna and his followers, the Sharanas.
The 2A category reservation issue
In this scenario, Siddaramaiah is moving cautiously to accept the Caste Census report, which is being opposed vehemently by the Lingayat community, who are intent on 2A category reservation.
Last year, the Veerashaiva Lingayat community decided to intensify their agitation demanding inclusion of all 96 sub-sects of the community in the central Other Backward Classes list.
The Veerashaiva-Lingayat community is essentially upset with the creation of two new categories in the backward classes list in response to the demand by the Panchamasali sub-sect to be included in the 2A category, which has a 15 percent quota as their existing category. The existing category has just 5 percent.
The Basavaraj Bommai government first proposed giving the protesting Vokkaligas and Lingayats the additional allocation from the Economically Weaker Section (EWS) quota. When this was rejected they reacted by removing Muslims entirely from the backward classes list.
Muslims were in the 2B category of the backward classes list, which has a 4 percent quota, but Bommai proposed to distribute this allocation between Vokkaligas and Lingayats equally.
Siddaramaiah, meanwhile, has tried to assuage their discontentment by deifying Basavanna, the community’s spiritual personality.
Standing by Yediyurappa
The Veerashaiva-Lingayat community, which backed the BJP in 2008 and 2018, withdrew support in 2023, after the alleged sidelining of the Lingayat face of BJP, Yediyurappa.
Realising that they had misjudged the scenario, the party high command, pushed Yediyurappa to the centrestage of Karnataka politics again by making his son B Y Vijayendra as the president of Karnataka state BJP unit.
Chinks in BJP’s armour
However, this time around, the BJP is facing other problems as well. Dissent and infighting broke out in the rank and file of the state unit after the announcement of candidates for Karnataka’s 25 Lok Sabha constituencies.
Madhuswamy has rebelled against V Somanna in Tumkur; Renukacharya has attacked Siddeshwar in Davanagere, and local party leaders are opposing the candidature of Basavaraj Bommai in Haveri.
Dingaleshwara Swamiji is opposing the candidature of Union Minister Prahlad Joshi in Dharwad. Karadi Sanganna is protesting against the official candidate, Dr Basavaraj, and Lingayat MLAs oppose Bhagavant Khuba's candidature in Bidar. Above all, veteran leader K S Eshwarappa is contesting as rebel candidate in Shivamogga.
“It is doubtful whether Lingayats will support Vijayendra as they adored and respected his father Yediyurappa. The BJP in Karnataka cannot flourish without the support of Veerashaiva-Lingayats, as they are staunch supporters of the party. We all know what happened in the Assembly polls, when Lingayats did not vote for BJP,” said a senior BJP leader, citing the call given by Veerashaiva Lingayat community to defeat BJP over its alleged ‘ill-treatment’ of Lingayat strongman and former CM B S Yediyurappa in 2023.
Notably, senior BJP leader B L Santhosh has said that BJP does not want Lingayat votes. This angered many Lingayat leaders, including leaders of All India, such as Veerashaiva Mahasabha.
Congress hopeful after three decades
The Congress is actively pursuing the Lingayat support base after nearly three decades of isolation by the community. It happened after the unceremonious removal of former chief minister Veerendra Patil, from the chief minister’s post in October 1990.
The community shifted its loyalty to erstwhile Janata party, especially Ramakrishna Hegde and J H Patel. With the exit of these two leaders, they finally consolidated behind Yediyurappa in 2008.
“But, despite all these theories, it is difficult to say for certain that Veerashaiva-Lingayats will disown B S Yediyurappa, on whom the community has been leaning for the past two decades,” pointed out a senior Lingayat leader of the party. You can never tell in politics, it seems.
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