‘Many Lingayat members are leaving RSS after realising its ideology’

Basavaprabhu Swamy, head of Basava Dharma Peetha of Basavakalyan, has alleged that the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) was hatching a conspiracy for weakening the movement for religion status to Lingayat.

Addressing a media conference here on Wednesday, the seer said that Lingayat community members within the RSS were deserting the organisation one after the other.

“A majority of the RSS members are Lingayats. If they identify with the new Lingayat religion, the RSS will lose its base. To prevent this from happening, the RSS is hatching a conspiracy to undermine the Lingayat movement. However, the Lingayats are quitting the RSS after realising the anti-Lingayat ideology of the Hindutva outfit,” he said.

Expressing discontent over the silence of Lingayat leaders in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on the demand for religion tag to Lingayat, the swamiji warned that the community would teach a lesson to them in the next Assembly polls.

“Lingayat leaders in the BJP get party ticket for contesting elections only because of the strength of their community. It is the community that has shaped their political career. They cannot remain silent when their community is struggling with a crucial demand. If they continue to distance themselves from the movement, the community will have to teach them a lesson. We will openly call upon Lingayats not to vote for those contestants, be it B.S. Yeddyurappa or Shamanur Shivashankarappa, who do not support our demand,” he said. Referring to concerns being expressed from a section of Hindu religious leaders, the swamiji said that Hinduism would in no way be affected if Lingayat is recognised as religion.

Terming Hinduism as a religion of inequalities and discrimination, he said that Lingayat advocated equality and fraternity among people and aimed at achieving global peace through welfare of all living beings.

“When home-grown faiths such as Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism were recognised as religion, Hinduism was not affected. It will be true with the 900-year-old Lingayat as well,” he said.