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2.5mn Panchamasalis to stage stir outside K’taka assembly on Dec 12
Addressing a convention of the community at Hukkeri town in Belagavi district, the Panchamasali seer said the long-pending and much-pleaded struggle to get the caste group included into the 2A reservation category has reached its final stage.
The “deadline” for the Karnataka government to include Panchamasali community into the 2A reservation category of state’s other backward classes (OBC) was over, said Kudalasangama-based mutt seer Basavajaya Mrutyunjaya Swami on Friday, as he threatened that 2.5 million members of the caste group will now show their power by laying siege to the state’s assembly on December 12.
Addressing a convention of the community at Hukkeri town in Belagavi district, the Panchamasali seer said the long-pending and much-pleaded struggle to get the caste group included into the 2A reservation category has reached its final stage.
“Over 80% people of the community were deprived from all kind of benefits from the government,” claimed the seer. “The community has accepted everyone and everything (good or bad) into its fold.”
Not only are the members of the community angered, even the mathadishas (head priests) are hurt by comments of some senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders against those in the party supporting the 2A reservation demand, the pontiff said. “The community and mathadishas will not tolerate insulting comments to political leaders backing the reservation struggle.”
The Panchamasalis are the largest group within the powerful Lingayat umbrella in Karnataka, and have been asking for an increased proportion of OBC reservations. The Lingayat — a community that boasts current BJP chief minister Basavaraj Bommai and his predecessor BS Yediyurappa among its tallest leaders — form at least 18% of the state’s population, and Panchamasalis are over half that number. Panchamasalis, a peasant community, have often argued that despite their numerical superiority, other subsects of the Lingayats have received more state attention and have turned powerful, sparking anger within the community.
Panchamasalis are categorised in 3B subdivision under the backward class (BC) category, and they have been demanding inclusion in the 2A subdivision, which is categorised as ‘more backward’ and offers 15% reservation in education and employment.
The pontiff said the BJP government had promised to consider their plea on four occasions, but it has not kept its word. Earlier, the community had held a protest near the chief minister’s residence in Bengaluru and also held an agitation before Suvarna Vidhana Soudha in Belagavi but in vain.
Though the given deadline was over, the BJP government must consider the demand or else the chief minister and his party will experience the effects in the next assembly elections, the pontiff warned.
Assembly elections in Karnataka are scheduled for next year.
Mrutyunjaya said just like the government recently announced to increase the reservation for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, demand of the Panchamsali community should also be considered. “They can implement the order later after completion of administrative procedure, the chief minister must announce the reservation for our community now,” the pontiff said.
Basanagouda Patil (Yatnal), the rebel BJP legislator from Vijayapura, came down heavily on the BJP-led state government, saying it was pointless to request them again on the matter. “There is a limit to everything. Panchamsalis, who have tolerated insult over the matter till date, also have respect,” he said.
Asking the community to show its power, Yatnal added: “The government’s batting is over, now we have to bat where will show our ability. Our raid to the Vidhan Soudha on December 12 is not to show the power but to change things.”
Former Karnataka ministers AB Patil, Shashikant Nayak and several Panchamasali mathadishas were present on the occasion. A rally was taken to the venue of the convention earlier in the day.
NEEDS BJP REACTION
The convention also witnessed a heated argument between former Congress legislator Vijayanand Kashappanavar and former BJP MP Ramesh Katti’s son Pruthvi.
When Kashappanavar asked the gathering to vote for Congress legislator from Hukkeri constituency in the next elections, Pruthvi, who was sitting in the front row, stood up and objected.
