“Lingayat organisations should be free from politics. Community leaders should avoid politicians while building community organisations,’’ Sri Tontada Siddarama Swami of Yedeyur Math said in Belagavi on Monday.
“It has become a trend where community organisations are being built around politicians. That should stop. We should avoid politicians while building community organisations. Our organisations should be free from party politics,’’ he said.
He was speaking at the Basava Darshana Pravachana Mangala organised by Jagatika Lingayat Mahasabha and Rashtriya Basava Sene.
“Most politicians have this habit of politicising every organisation they are in. We should avoid them all together. We should build social, cultural and economic organisations and not political institutions. We should be vigilant against party politics entering Lingayat organisations. We should be united and stay above petty political differences. Otherwise, the community will not survive,” he said.
He urged young people to work selflessly for the community. “We should build such strong community organisations that we should be able to dictate government policy,” he said.
“We should be king-makers. We should be put public good before private good,” he said. He also asked the young not to be swayed by sensational speeches and divisive strategies of some vested interests. “When we speak of community fraternity and unity, it does not mean that we should hate other communities. Community elders should ensure that the young are not influenced by hate being peddled by some politicians and vested interests,” he said. “You cannot build a nation by hating some religion or its followers,” he added.
He criticised some leaders of the Veerashaiva Mahasabha who were trying to claim that Lingayats were Hindus. This is the result of wrong interpretation of the tenets of Lingayatism. It is a religion that is distinct from Hinduism. “We should see that there is no confusion about the status of Lingayatism,” he said.
He hoped that the faith will get religion status very soon.
Sri Guru Mahantswami of Ilkal urged Lingayats to shun dependence on the almanac and astrology. True Lingayats do not hold such unscientific beliefs, he said.
National general secretary of Jagatika Lingayat Mahasabha S.M. Jamdar said that Lingayatism was considered a religion from 1399 to 1610. Its status changed later, he said. He said that those who did not believe in the philosophy of Basaveshwara are not true Lingayats.
Sri Vagdevi Tayi, Sri Prabhu Channabasava Swami, Basavaraj Rotti and others were present.
