Latest news with #VeerashaivaMahasabha
New Indian Express
09-05-2025
- Politics
- New Indian Express
Veerashaiva Mahasabha advice: Lingayats need to provide only name, number for survey
BENGALURU: The powerful Veerashaiva Mahasabha finds itself in a spot of discomfort as the government's contentious Scheduled Caste survey, led by a commission under Justice Nagamohan Das, gathers steam. The commission, which began collecting detailed data on May 5, has set off complaints of confusion, particularly among non-SC communities. Seeking to end the confusion, Mahasabha president and Davangere South MLA Shamanur Shivashankarappa issued a statement, insisting that non-SC citizens, especially Lingayats, only need to provide the name of the family head and total number of family members. 'The list of 44 data points is meant for SC respondents,' he said. 'Citizens caught off-guard' With the Mahasabha ramping up its organizational strength, having held elections in over 150 taluks, Shivashankarappa issued a call to all 178 local units to spread the word that Lingayats are not required to disclose all details to enumerators. Mahasabha secretary Renuka Prasanna reported complaints pouring in from bewildered citizens caught off-guard by surveyors at their doorsteps. 'There is confusion. The commission must issue an immediate clarification,' he urged.
New Indian Express
26-04-2025
- Politics
- New Indian Express
Caste survey 'flawed, fraudulent', claims Veerashaiva-Lingayat Mahasabha amid uproar over data gaps
BENGALURU: The caste survey report has sparked a storm across Karnataka, with the powerful Vokkaliga leaders meeting national chairman of the Veerashaiva-Lingayat Mahasabha Shamanur Shivashankarappa on Friday, and both communities unleashing a scathing attack on its credibility. Labelling the survey 'completely unscientific', Veerashaiva Mahasabha National Secretary HM Renuka Prasanna alleged massive under-reporting, data manipulation and inexplicable omissions that he claimed amount to nothing short of demographic erasure. '66 lakh is a joke,' said Prasanna, rejecting the official figure for the Veerashaiva-Lingayat population. 'Other commissions have clearly stated our population is between 1.3 crore and 1.4 crore. How did this number suddenly shrink to half? It is not just the Lingayats. Several caste populations seem grossly inflated or deflated beyond logic," Prasanna said. "Muslims and Kurubas have been shown to be 94% and 74% higher, while the population of Lingayats, Vokkaligas, Brahmins and Jains has mysteriously dwindled. 'Upper caste families showing just one child each? That's fiction,' he added. Even more baffling are discrepancies in subgroup counts. 'Only 2.5 lakh Sadar 2A Hindus,' Prasanna asked, insisting that this is off by a huge margin. 'There should be 67,000 in just one region. How can Davangere alone have 4-5 lakh and the total number can still be less,' he added. Nonabas from Tumakuru to Hubballi have been shown as a mere 1.5 lakh — a figure he stated as 'wildly inaccurate'. The massive Panchamasali sect, shown as 10 lakh across two heads, is allegedly missing 10 lakh people. A Veerashaiva-Lingayat Mahasabha member termed the exercise as political sidelining. 'Former chief ministers like S Nijalingappa, BD Jatti, Veerendra Patil, SR Kanti, JH Patel, and Jagdish Shettar — all Banajiga Lingayats — come from a community shown as just around 1 lakh, whereas they should easily number 10 lakh or more,' he said. Sub-sects like Reddy Lingayats, Ganiga Lingayats, Hande Wazir, Agasa, Hadpad, and Gowli Lingayats, have allegedly been sidelined or poorly counted. Even worse, 16 Lingayat sub-sects are entirely missing from the enumeration, raising red flags about the methodology of the survey. 'Meanwhile, Muslim data is perfect. Why? Because they ensured religion, caste, and sub-caste aligned properly during enumeration. We didn't get that chance.' he fumed. 'This survey is not just flawed — it's fraudulent. It's unscientific, inconsistent, and deeply damaging,' alleged Prasanna.
India Today
24-04-2025
- Politics
- India Today
Karnataka dominant communities join forces to oppose caste survey report
The Karnataka Rajya Vokkaligara Sangha, the apex body of the dominant Vokkaliga community, is exploring an alliance with the Lingayat community's Veerashaiva Mahasabha to oppose the recommendations of the caste census report in Lingayats and Vokkaligas are influential and dominant in Karnataka's political landscape. They have been particularly instrumental for politicians during election two influential groups are now looking to jointly counter any attempts to implement the findings of the 'Social and Educational Survey Report,' which was presented to the state cabinet on April Kenchappa Gowda, president of the Vokkaligara Sangha, confirmed ongoing discussions between the two communities.'We are in constant touch with Veerashaiva Mahasabha leaders. We are planning to hold a meeting, but the date has not been finalised yet,' Gowda told news agency PTI.A Veerashaiva Mahasabha office-bearer also echoed this sentiment, adding that the talks are focused on devising strategies to pressurise the government into reconsidering the caste census report.'The discussions are mainly to decide strategies to build pressure on the government not to proceed with the caste census report recommendations and to demand a fresh, free, and fair survey,' the office-bearer stated, requesting caste census report, which was presented to the Karnataka cabinet last month, has faced resistance from both the Vokkaligara Sangha and the Veerashaiva-Lingayat communities, two of the state's largest social groups. These communities argue that the report, after being commissioned ten years ago, does not adequately represent their interests and needs a thorough report, which was submitted to the state government by Jayaprakash Hegde, chairperson of the Karnataka Backward Classes Commission, has stirred significant controversy in the state. Following its presentation to the cabinet, a special meeting was called on April 17, where it was decided that the matter would be revisited at a cabinet meeting scheduled for May 2.
