Don’t allow vested interests to disintegrate Veerashaiva Lingayats further, say seers, leaders

Political leaders and seers of both ‘Guru’ and ‘Virakta’ traditions of the Veerashaiva Lingayat community have termed the lack of unity among various subcastes in the community as the reason for the weakening of the community and have appealed to the community members not to allow vested interests to further disintegrate the community.

Speaking at the ‘Veerashaiva Lingayat Ekata Samavesha’ in Hubballi on Friday, the speakers elaborated on the reasons for the disintegration of the once demographically strong community in the State and emphasised the need realising mistakes of the past and bury the differences to build a stronger community.

After National vice president of Akhila Bharat Veerashaiva Lingayat Mahasabha and Forest Minister Eshwar Khandre outlined the objective of the convention and the nomenclature to be mentioned during the forthcoming socio-economic and educational survey, Fakira Dingalaeshwar Swami of Shirahatti Fakkreshwar Mutt mentioned how the community, which formed over 30% of the State’s population, had now been reduced to just 11%.

He said he would not venture into the reasons for the debacle and said that the further disintegration  should not be allowed and the community members should stay united.

Former Chief Ministers Jagadish Shettar and Basavaraj Bommai emphasised the need for remaining united and said they would abide by the decision of the Mahasabha on the issue. Mr. Bommai said that because of a lack of unity, the population of the Veerashaiva Lingayat was getting reduced during surveys. Both Mr. Shettar and Bommai said that both Sri Renukacharya and Basavanna had expressed similar views, and the followers of both should bury their differences. Mr. Bommai said that the broad-mindedness of the community should not be treated as weakness and community should remain united to defeat the plans of vested interests.

The State president of the Mahasabha elaborated on how the Mahasabha would be bringing all the subcastes under its banner in the coming days. Emphasising the need for remaining united, he said the Mahasabha would also be launching a fight to get the rightful reservation for various downtrodden communities within the fold of Veerashaiva Lingayats.

Leaders Prabhakar Kore and Vijayanand Kashappanavar and Lingayat leader from Maharashtra Manohar Dhone emphasised the need for unity. Sri Veerasomeshwar Swami of Rambhapuri Peetha maintained that the views of both Renukacharya and Basavanna were one and the same. However he said that while the ‘Pancha Peethas’ revered Basavanna, similar gesture was not shown towards Renukacharya by some followers of Basavanna. Instead of establishing a new religion, the existing one should be strengthened, he said.

The Ekata Samavesh saw participation of few hundred seers from across the state and neighbouring state of Maharashtra. Prior to the convention, the seers marched from Moorusavir Mutt to the venue of the event to send the message of unity.