Fighting for Minority Religious Tag by Lingayats

Constitution of India does not define the word ‘Minority’, but, has used the word minority or minorities considering two attributes – Religion or Language of a person.

Article 29 protects the interests of the minorities by making a provision that any citizen / section of citizens having a distinct language, script or culture have the right to conserve the same, 

and

Article 30 protects the right of minorities to establish and administer educational institutions whether based on religion or language.

The above two provisions together may be taken as the constitutional charter for religious and linguistic minorities at all levels.

Currently, 6 religious communities, (Muslims, Sikhs, Zoroastrianism, Buddhists, Jains and Christians) are notified as religious minorities under National Commission for Minorities Act 1992. Now Karnataka Government had mooted the idea of including Lingayat as the 7^th religious minority community which is being looked as a vote bank politics of Congress and more to divide the Hindu Societies to get the maximum benefits in the forthcoming election.

The establishments of Minority Commissions are the brain child of Congress to appease ‘wherever it gets them votes – their efforts to appease Muslims and Christians had reached saturation points, Same Congress had now wanted to try their luck with Hindus Majorities’ – by agreeing to treat Lingayat as a Minority Religion so as to extend various government  facilities in running their various Charitable Mutts, their educational institutions without any fear of taking over by the Government and having no interference by the Government in running their institutions. As individuals Lingayats who belong to various castes enjoy various reservation benefits, this move of minority religious tag is only to make Lingayats Institutions to avail various government benefits and the Congress, though earlier at the Centre level, had opposed, when Yeduyurappa then Chief Minister of Karanata had proposed.

The Sachar Committee Report presented on the 30^th November 2006 to the Indian Parliament was the outcome of the Prime Minister’s Notification on March 9, 2005 for the constitution of a High Committee to prepare a report on the social, economic and educational status of the Muslim community of India – giving a preferential treatment to Muslim minorities leaving aside other minority communities like Christian, Sikhs, Buddhists etc. Congress’s avowed policy of ‘First Preference to Muslims to Indian Resources’ had only divided the other minority communities, but, the establishments of Ministry of Minority Affairs (MOMA) in 2006 under UPA -1, separate Budget allocations under MOMA and a program called Multi Sectoral Development Program (MSDP) initiated in 2008-09 based on Sachar Committee Report were all the part of Congress’s Divide and Rule policy.

Congress’s treacherous and unethical acts were very much evident that after SC had ruled that minority educational institutions do not have special privilege over majority run institutes, UPA-1 passed the 93rd amendment to add Article 15(5) which restored the advantage for minority educational institutions. Subsequently they introduced the RTE Act which applies a host of regulations only for Hindu-run schools – this is leading to many budget schools shutting down and leading to a spurt in minority-run schools. The minority tag is going to be a big incentive for the Lingayat community, which runs several educational institutions.

The tragedy for Hindus has continued till date – even though Hindus being a minority in 7 States and 1 Union Territory, they do not get any minority rights in those states – as Hindus are not classified as a minority religion by those States – but, others like Muslims, Christians, etc. are the beneficiaries under various Government Schemes due to their Minority Tags.

The only way to come out of this legal web of distortions and perverse incentives is to go for uniformity of law i.e. “One country, one law”. The more divisions we create, the country is headed for another partition. Hindus do not ask for superiority, but at least give them a level playing field.

Even earlier there were moves to get Minority Religious Tags for Ramakrishna Mission and Swami Narayana sect, but, the court had rejected their pleas stating that they belong to Hindu Religion only and that they could not be given status of Minority Relgions. Hence, in the event of Lingayat Minority Religious pleas going to the Court, we do not know whether it will pass favourable order giving it a minority religious tag.

A brief lists of benefits meant for minority communities are given to high light – How much benefits, unfettered and noninterference in running their educational institutions etc. thereby thrashing the main fundamental principle of equal rights and benefits for all irrespective of religion castes etc.

·        50% reservation for their communities in educational institutions run them.

·        Minority community institutions will be exempted from rent control laws. They are at liberty to preach their religion in their educational institutions.

·        Government funding for land to build religious and educational institutions.

·        Various Government Sponsored Schemes are extended to them.

·        Governments are debarred from taking over the temples, mutts, educational institutions etc. But Majority religious institutions are always under the government control and the funds could not be spent by Hindus like minority religious communities.

Justice Nagamohan Das commission (7 member committee formed had no Lingayats Luminaries) – constituted by the present Siddaramaiya Government had ruled that the Lingayats and the Lingayat-Veerashaivas (Veerashaivas who follow Basavanna) are a distinct religious group and hence must be accorded minority status under Section 2(d) of the Karnataka Minorities Act. Accordingly, cabinet had accepted the rulings of the commission and submitted its proposal to the Centre for its clearance and also to notify Lingatyats as Minority under Central Minority Commission Act.

Coming to crest of the problem, the question posed was: Are Lingayats Hindus?

If the Lingayats wanted to delink from the Hindus, then it is purely on economic and monetary considerations and there was none involved as far as their philosophy is concerned.

First all Hinduism is not a religion but a way of life. It is ancient – Sanatana Dharma – even to this day Hinduism was the most vibrant and assimilated various changes to meet the demands and aspirations of many hindu societies.

Lingayat bhakthi movement was of recent origin – 12^th century by Basavanna or Basaveshwara – a Brahmin by birth -  based on the holy text of  Vachanas (Sayings) – which were composed by Sharanas (Complete surrender to Lord Shiva) – all in chaste Kannada language appealing to all especially downtrodden. More than 400 vachanakaras (makers of vachanas) have been identified so far.

While the founder Basavanna was said to have composed 1414 Vachanas out of total of 20249 Vachanas and the remaining was composed by 249 Vachanakaras (215 men and 34 women), though, it was said that many vachanas have been lost over the time. 

Lingayats based their argument for minority religious tag on the following points:

·        Lingayats do not worship any God other than Shiva – Temple worship, ritutals, caste society are all taboo for them. Wearing a personal linga is their main identity.

·        Work is Worship

·        A Section of Veerashaivats who are following footsteps of Basavanna’s Vachanas  are being considered as minority leaving the rest as Hindus and Majority

Anyone who worships Shiva is only Hindu and the mere fact that Lingayats do not subscribe to Vedas and Upanishads become weak to disown from their parent religion. Even in Lingayats, there are different castes and hence there is no caste system in Lingayat – cannot be taken at face value. Even today, Lingayats are enjoying reservations based on castes. 

Even Atheists  are being accommodated by the Hindus’ Scriptures. Lingayat cannot have monopoly over their main principle of ‘Work is Worship’.  There are many Advaitis practicing ‘Brahmam’ – Tapas and by any stretch, they cannot be called as non-Hindus – as they do not visit temples, not even allegiance to any particular deity.   

If one critically examine the contents, value, depths, spiritual discourses as revealed in Vedas and Upanishads, Basaveshwara’s Vachanas will be no match – this is not to belittle the sacred sayings of Vachanas.

Bhagavat Gita does not advocate caste system. Total verses of B hagavad Gita is 700 and verses about caste are found in in Chapter 4 – 13 and Chapter 18 – 41 to 45 – i.e. 6 verses in all. Even if one ignores these 6 verses, there are plenty of wonderful and mind blowing philosophical and spiritual thoughts that will simply move your heart to the highest level possible. Even in these 6 verses, can you prove that Krishna advocates castes? Definitely not.

Shivalinga, Rudraksha, Vibhuthi are part and parcel of Hindus and Lingayats cannot have any exclusive rights over these. If they chose to have a minority tag relinquishing Hindus Status, it becomes their decision and Hinduism will not be affected religiously, but, politically, the separation may end up in division in Hindus Societies.

What is the permanent solution to such demands from various quarters of Hindu communities to avail various financial, subsidiesed land allotment etc.?

Answer is: Put an end to Minority Raj in Education sector. And it is not easy at the present junction but, a beginning is to be made as a course correction.

First, amend Article 30 (1): “All minorities, whether based on religion or language, shall have the right to establish and administer educational institutions of their choice.” Replace the word “minorities” with “all sections of citizens”. This has been the BJP’s demand for decades. Giving parity to Hindus by amending Article 30 (1) was also part of election manifesto in the 1990s. Yes, it will need constitutional amendment. But at least, passing this in Lok Sabha will set the ball rolling and start the conversation.

Second, abolish Ministry of Minority Affairs and stop all schemes that are currently run by it.

Third, bring a bill to repeal National Commission For Minorities (NCM), 1992 Act and give back its functions to National Human Rights Commission.

Fourth, repeal National Commission For Minority Education Institutions (NCMEI). This is an out and out sectarian body, which by law doesn’t allow a Hindu to be its member. Sonia Gandhi-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government set up this commission through an ordinance in 2004. This is the most discriminatory law solely to appease Muslims. Sonia had now realized her mistake when she had mentioned that ‘Congress was being labeled as Muslim Congress Party wrongly.’  Her mindset that Hindus can’t be trusted to oversee minorities was the result of this measure.

Fifth, repeal and replace the Right To Education (RTE) Act, which imposes heavy financial burden on non-minority private-unaided schools. These schools have no autonomy in selecting its students either. This has ensured that any Hindu entrepreneur with a philanthropic bent of mind would think 10 times before venturing into education sector. At the same time, minority-run schools, which are free from almost all government control or societal obligations are free to expand and proliferate. While, it may take time for Article 30 to be amended as it needs constitutional amendment, RTE can be repealed by simple majority in the parliament.

What is happening today is a clear distortion of what Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar, the architect of our Constitution, had stated in 1948  – “It is wrong for the majority to deny the existence of minorities. It is equally wrong for the minorities to perpetuate themselves. A solution must be found which will serve a double purpose. It must recognise the existence of the minorities to start with. It must also be such that it will enable majorities and minorities to merge someday into one.”

Things had drifted too much and it needs ‘a surgical operation’ to start giving equal justice to Hindus – as given to other minorities by various provisions of State and Central Acts. Bold and Strong Awakenings amongst Hindus alone will embolden the Government to remove the injustice done to the Hindus in the near future and this could be done only by Modi – and Modi alone. 

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