Veershaiva Mahasabha rejects minority tag for the Lingayat community, calls decision “height of injustice”

The Veershaiva Mahasabha, a representative body of the Veershaiva and Lingayat community, has rejected the minority tag recommended for the Lingayat community by the Siddaramaiah government in Karnataka.

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The Mahasabha also accused the Karnataka government of taking the decision in view of the upcoming Assembly elections.

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Mahasabha President Shamanur Shivashankarappa, who is also a Congress MLA, had on Tuesday called the decision of the cabinet “height of injustice”. He had said, “We have called a meeting of Veerashaiva Mahasabha on March 23; prima facie itself this (decision of the cabinet) makes it clear that it is the height of injustice.” The meeting has been called to discuss the future course of action.

The Siddaramaiah government had earlier accepted the suggestions of a panel that had been constituted to look into the issue and recommended a minority tag for the Lingayat community. The move was seen as an appeasement tactic ahead of the upcoming polls to divide the votes of the community which has traditionally been a BJP vote base.

OpIndia Staff: Staff reporter at OpIndia