Ahead of the fresh caste census starting later this month in Karnataka, the Akhila Bharatha Veerashaiva Mahasabha has urged members of the community to list their religion under the ‘Others’ category. The decision was taken following a meeting of the Mahasabha on Sunday.
In the upcoming census, six religions such as Hindu, Muslim, Christian, Sikh, Jain, and Buddhist will be listed, besides the ‘Others’ category. Community members have been asked to pick the ‘Others’ category in the religion column, and enter Veerashaiva Lingayat under the sub-head.
Similarly, under the caste column, they will have to enter either Veerashaiva or Lingayat, and in the sub-caste column, they should mention their specific sub-caste name, said Eshwar Khandre, state forest minister and vice-president of the Mahasabha. According to the organisation, this would ensure that the community’s population is accurately reflected when the census details are released.
Shankar Bidari, who heads the state unit of the Mahasabha, said such classification will help identify backwardness within the community and enable appropriate benefits. In earlier surveys, Veerashaivas and Lingayats were treated as one caste, and no official recognition was given for a separate religion. This needs to be considered, he said, adding that the Census should identify backward, more backward and extremely backward castes within the Veerashaiva Lingayat community.
Sources in the Mahasabha told The Indian Express that though the community had been pushing for the status of a separate religion since 2000, there would not be any such demands ahead of the caste census. “The decision to choose the ‘others’ category is only to ensure that effective enumeration of the community is carried out,” a member of the organisation said, noting that Hindus and Veerashaiva Lingayats have several sub-castes which share the same name.
Citing an example, the member said that while Hindus had Kshaurika, an occupation-based caste comprising barbers, there is also a Lingayat sub-caste with the same name and occupation. “If these people enter their caste as Hindus, then the population of Veerashaiva Lingayats will not be accurate. The Mahasabha has taken the call to address these concerns,” he said.