Bengaluru – Karnataka BJP has taken sharp aim at Chief Minister Siddaramaiah after he called Lingayat “a separate religion” and promised to rename the city’s flagship metro line to “Basava Metro.”
B.Y. Vijayendra, BJP state president and MLA, made the comments during a workshop at the Bharat Scouts and Guides Bhavan on Monday. He urged the CM to keep the public’s trust by clarifying his true motives. “Protecting all communities and religions should be the chief minister’s top priority,” Vijayendra said. “We welcome the idea of naming a metro station after Basaveshwara, but the people need to know what Siddaramaiah is really thinking.”
Vijayendra warned that the CM’s call for a separate religion has resurfaced on newspapers and social media. He added that the debate over Veerashaiva‑Lingayat religious status has returned to the headlines. “We need to safeguard the Hindu religion and stop attempts that try to divide it,” he noted. He also mentioned that many communities – Scheduled Castes, backward classes, Vokkaligas, and Veerashaivas – still face social and economic disadvantages. “Why is Siddaramaiah rushing through this?” he asked.
The BJP leader criticised the state’s caste census plan, claiming some areas include people who do not actually belong to any caste. He criticised the Chief Minister’s insistence on finishing the census in just 15 days and said “some forces are trying to divide society and undermine the Hindu religion.”
The debate follows a controversy that began in 2017 when the Congress‑led state government first suggested Lingayats be declared a separate religion. Siddaramaiah reiterated this view on Sunday in Bengaluru, sparking criticism from senior Congress leaders M.B. Patil and Eshwar Khandre, both Lingayats.
Deputy Chief Minister and state Congress president D.K. Shivakumar had earlier apologized for the idea of a separate religion, but the issue has resurfaced, igniting fresh political tensions in Karnataka.
Source: ianslive
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