How mathas play a role in shaping political landscape

Bengaluru In the past few weeks, prominent politicians running to mathas (mutts) or monasteries in every nook and corner of Karnataka, has been played on loop by Kannada TV news channels, reporting and interpreting almost every angle of significance of such visits

Bengaluru In the past few weeks, prominent politicians running to mathas (mutts) or monasteries in every nook and corner of Karnataka, has been played on loop by Kannada TV news channels, reporting and interpreting almost every angle of significance of such visits.

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The frequency of such visits is indicative of either a political crisis or the onset of elections, analysts and observers said, making them a powerful group with influence over every sphere of not just society but the electoral landscape including governance and policy.

And mathas rarely turn down such visits, treating everyone at their doorstep equally, giving enough content for the politician to flaunt, almost as if claiming to have got the validation and backing of these Mathadisha’s (pontiffs or chief abbotts) and its followers.

Though mathas were traditionally only into social and religious duties, people who are aware of their workings, said that there has been a growing involvement of some of these entities in politics especially since the 1980’s.

“These are not their objectives but it has become their main objective now. Today to expect swamiji’s to teach politicians morality is beyond question,” the person cited above said.

Estimates are that there are thousands of such mathas in Karnataka and several of them have come up in the last two decades to consolidate the community in a region and become a larger bargaining power for better education, representation and other benefits for its members. Experts said that the situation is such that every community wants a matha or feels incomplete.

These entities run schools, colleges, orphanages and other social activities in which thousands of children are educated, irrespective of caste.

Karnataka chief minister BS Yediyurappa, who is from the dominant Lingayat community, has been trying to get the backing of these mathas to mobilise support against his removal from the top chair. His son, BY Vijayendra, too has been making frequent trips to these mathas, which people aware of the developments said, was not just to get the backing of these pontiffs behind Yediyurappa but also to recognize him as the potential heir in lieu of his imminent electoral plunge.

Some of these matha’s are entwined in Karnataka’s deep-rooted caste-based politics, backing candidates, opposing or proposing policies that are likely to impact the community, making political statements and even bargaining for better reservation and representation.

In recent times, almost all major communities like the Kurubas, Valmiki, Vokkaliga and the Panchamasali (the largest sub-sect within the Lingayats) have held large rallies and processions seeking better reservation opportunities that gave Yediyurappa an opportunity to restructure the entire process and allowing him to be seen as heeding to demands from all communities.

Yediyurappa has managed to get the backing of at least 17 small Lingayat mathas from Tumakuru and other places to back him openly but a few others Kudalasangama-based Panchamasali mutt Seer Jagadguru Basava Jaya Mrityunjaya Swami, who led the demands for better reservation for the Panchamasali sect of Lingayats, has suggested that if the BJP does replace Yediyurappa, they consider making a Lingayat candidate from north Karnataka as chief minister.

Ramesh Jarkiholi, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislator from Gokak, visited Suttur Matha in Mysuru on Friday in the wake of developments that he would seek a re-induction to the cabinet as the case of sexual exploitation levelled against him gets weaker.

The connection between politics and mathas runs deep, with the former sometimes openly endorsing a candidate or resolving to defeat one in elections.

In Chitradurga’s Murugha Matha of the Lingayat community, about 200 kms from Bengaluru, the main hall is filled with pictures of the head pontiff, Sri Shivamurthy Murugha Sharanaru sharing space with former prime ministers, chief ministers and other prominent politicians.

Just before the 2018 elections, BJP national president Amit Shah and his Congress counterpart Rahul Gandhi had visited several mathas in Karnataka. Prime Minister Narendra Modi too had made references to several such mathas and their pontiffs, specific to the geography of his rally, during his speeches in the run up to the elections.

The head pontiff of Madara Guru Peetha that represents the Madigas, a socially backward community, had successfully engineered the defeat of the then Congress minister H Anjaneya after publicly stating that he would “go to any extent” to defeat the latter, who was earlier the secretary of the matha.

The head pontiff of the Tontadarya Matha joined farmers and others and successfully campaigned against a proposed 6 million tonne Posco steel plant, in Gadag, in 2011, demonstrating their ability to mobilise people for a cause, which sometimes is political.

Yediyurappa is arguably the biggest political leader of the Lingayat community which has made it more difficult for the BJP to replace him, fearing a backlash from the group which is believed to be the largest in the state. Siddaramaiah lost power in 2018 after attempting to accord a separate religion status for the Lingayats and tried to distinguish between Veerashaivas (considered a sub-sect and a term used interchangeably with Lingayats) which was seen as an attempt to divide the community.

“Yediyurappa came up not because he had the support of the community. But when he became powerful, the community sided with him,” said a senior BJP leader, requesting not to be named. “The community supports a strong leader and does not back them just because they are from the same caste,” he added.

A Narayana, political analyst and faculty at Azim Premji University said that the Lingayat support to the BJP is currently routed through Yediyurappa but the party is probably unsure if the community may back another outfit if the chief minister is replaced.

“The formula is such that the party (BJP) cannot do without Lingayat support in Karnataka and it is not sure if Lingayat support is guaranteed without Yediyurappa,” he added.

He said that in other states there have been instances of chief minister’s parading MLAs but in Karnataka, Yediyurappa may be forced to parade the support of mathas.