BENGALURU: Leaders at the forefront of the agitation seeking a separate religion status for the Lingayat community claimed the support of Siddaganga Mutt seer Shivakumara Swami on Sunday. Water Resources minister MB Patil, who is also leading the agitation for a separate religion status for the same community met Shivakumara Swamiji on Sunday at the Tumakuru Mutt and discussed the issue.
Patil announced that the seer expressed his support for the demand. “Swamiji was very clear and categorical in conveying his view that it is only the Lingayat dharma that is a separate religion and not Veerashaiva. Linking of Veerashaiva to Lingayat is an act of the recent past,” Patil claimed. “With Swamiji conveying his view, the confusion among Veerashaiva and Lingayat communities has been cleared.
Veerashaivas and Lingayats are two different communities and Lingayat is a separate religion,” he said. Patil declared it as the happiest day of his life and said the agitation for a separate religion tag for Lingayats has received a big boost with support from the spiritual head of the community who has been considered the modern Basavanna. However, the Minister refused to take questions on why the Siddaganga Mutt itself has not come out and conveyed its stand in this regard so far. When asked repeatedly about it, he just said, “wait and see” .