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Context
The move to recogniseLingayats as a separate religion must be seen in a political and historical context
Request of classification at the time of finalization of Indian Constitution
- The Lingayats were recorded as a caste within the Hindu religion for the first time in the 1881 census done in Mysore state
- Their request to be classified as a separate religion instead was turned down at the time the Indian Constitution was being finalized
- The rationale: How can Shaivites not be Hindu?
Nagamohan Das committee
- The six-member Nagamohan Das committee, which was constituted three months ago, views Lingayats and those who believe in Basava’s philosophy as belonging to a separate religion.
- The latter criterion is an opening offered to Veerashaivas who are clubbed with Lingayats in official documents despite their theological differences with the latter.
- The Siddaramaiah government has now asked the Centre to endorse the committee’s view that Lingayats form a separate religion
