The Karnataka Police on Wednesday detained several protestors who demanded that the Bharatiya Janata Party clarify its stance on the Lingayat community getting a separate religion tag, News18 reported. The protestors held their demonstration ahead of BJP President Amit Shah’s visit to the Basaveshvara Circle in Bengaluru, where he garlanded a statue of Basavanna – whose philosophy the Lingayat community follows.
Shah is on a two-day visit to Karnataka to campaign for the party ahead of the Assembly Elections in May. Basavanna is a 12th-century Lingayat philosopher, poet and social reformer.
At an election rally on March 26, Shah had accused the Congress government in Karnataka of granting the Lingayat community the status of a separate religion to prevent state BJP leader BS Yeddyurappa from becoming the chief minister. Yeddyurappa, a Lingayat strongman, has also called Chief Minister Siddaramaiah government’s move an “election gimmick” and accused it of dividing society.
The Veerashaiva community also opposed the Karnataka government’s decision and said the status should have been granted to the entire Veerashaiva-Lingayat community, not just the followers of Basavanna’s philosophy.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will reportedly pay tribute to the 12th century poet in London later on Wednesday.
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