(Representational image)
Bidar: The Bidar District Lingayat Samanvaya Samiti has warned on June 13, that it will hold a “Delhi Chalo” rally if the central government refused to grant the independent religion status to the Lingayat community.
The announcement comes in the backdrop of the union government returning the state’s proposal for according independent religion status to Lingayat.
“A delegation comprising 30 pontiffs will soon be taken to Delhi to convince Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the demand of a separate Lingayat religion”, said Basavalinga Pattadavee, Convenor of the Lingayat Samanvaya Samiti.
He said that the organisation would hold a meeting before proceeding to Delhi to affix a date to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi. “We will petition the government to accord a separate religion status on the same lines as the Jain and Buddhist religions in India”, he added.
The Lingayat organisation also criticised the coalition government for not giving a cabinet berth to M B Patil who had spearheaded the Lingayat agitation for separate religion. “If the Congress high command doesn’t respond, we will teach a suitable lesson in the next election”, Pattadavee warned.
“Patil, who is leading the linguistic struggle, has been betrayed in the cabinet. If the Congress leaders do not wake up, they will have to pay for it in the next election.”
He also refuted the claims that Veerashava-Lingayat factions were reconciling and uniting. “There is a theoretical disagreement between the two factions. Both the Guru and the Dharma Granth are different. These factions can never be united”, he said.
