• Wion
  • /India News
  • /Lingayat Committee demands minority status and constitutional recognition

Lingayat Committee demands minority status and constitutional recognition

Lingayat Committee demands minority status and constitutional recognition

Lingayat in Maharashtra

Story highlights

The 'Mahamorcha' was carried out to the Divisional Commissioner's office in Maharashtra

Days after the Karnataka government gave minority status to the Lingayat community in the state, the All India Lingayat Coordination Committee carried out a "Mahamorcha" in Maharashtrademanding a Constitutional recognition of the community in Maharashtra.

The Committee also demanded its minority status on a national level.

The "Mahamorcha" was carried out to the Divisional Commissioner's office in Maharashtra.

Add WION as a Preferred Source

Minority status was given to the Lingayats in Karnataka on March 23 after the Karnataka's Lingayat community's long pressed demand for a separate religion tag and minority status. The move is believed to have a bearing on the upcoming Karnataka Assembly elections.

The Lingayats also known as the Veerashaiva community owes loyalty to the social reform movement of the 12th century initiated by Basaveshwara, a saint, has a considerable population in the northern part of the Karnataka. They rebelled against established Hindu traditions by defying the caste system and vedic rituals.

In their bid for a separate religion status, Lingayats were eager to dissociate themselves from Veerashaivas, a Shaivite religious tradition, whose followers adhere to the vedas. Lingayats, on the contrary, do not believe in rituals or vedas.

At the core of their ideology and belief systems, the Lingayats reject the ancient Hindu texts and vedas, the caste system and the belief in karma and reincarnation. In the Lingayat tradition, worship revolves bhakti or devotion and is centred on god Shiva.