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Panchamasalis call off plans for hunger strike over reservation demands after Karnataka CM Bommai’s assurance
The Panchamasali sub-sect had warned of starting a hunger strike from October 1 if the assurances made by former chief minister BS Yediyurappa was not fulfilled by September 25
Bengaluru Satisfied with the assurances made by chief minister Basavaraj Bommai, the Panchamasalis, the largest sub-sect under the dominant Lingayat community, on Friday decided to back down from its plans for an indefinite hunger strike over reservation-related demands.
The Panchamasali sub-sect had warned of starting a hunger strike from October 1 if the assurances made by former chief minister BS Yediyurappa was not fulfilled by September 25.
Basava Jaya Mruthyunjaya Swami, the pontiff of the influential Kudalasangama Panchamasali Peetha said that the community would not undertake the satyagraha after assurances made by the chief minister.
The pontiff said that the community leaders would request the government to get the report of the backward classes commission and once handed, they would wait three months before they revive their struggle.
“The state government should get the report from the backward classes commission at the earliest. After the report comes, we demand that the government give us our reservation within three months to which they have agreed. If not, we will revive our protests and continue our satyagraha in Bengaluru,” the seer said on Friday.
Bommai and other senior leaders from the government held discussions with the seer and other prominent leaders of the struggle on Friday morning in what has become a successful bid to get the latter to forgo the agitation.
The overt assurances made by the Basavaraj Bommai-led government feeds into and from the same politics in which dominant communities continue to be prioritised over marginalised groups who have sought to block the Panchamasali into the 2A category as it would further deprive the latter of reservation-assured opportunities.
“We had requested the seer not to go ahead with the Satyagraha,” CC Patil, Karnataka’s minister for public works and a member of the Panchamasali sub-sect said on Friday.
He said that the government was committed to help the community and was the only one to have reciprocated to their demands.
This development comes as a major relief to Bommai who has been battling one crisis after another and has tried to keep all of them under check to avoid adding more challenges to his already challenging term in office. The decision by the community comes a month ahead of the two bypolls in Hanagal and Sindgi on October 30 which the BJP is hoping to win and add to its overall tally.
The Panchamasalis have kept up their struggle to be included in the 2A category from the existing 3B in the state reservation list to get better opportunities for its followers.
Former chief minister BS Yediyurappa, a Lingayat himself, has long depended on this community to propel his and the BJP’s fortunes in the southern state over decades.
In Karnataka, caste-groups are believed to back one of the three major political parties--BJP, Congress and JD(S)--which allows these outfits to pander to the interests of these specific communities which continues to bolster the dominant-caste political culture in the state.
The BJP is believed to have the backing of the Lingayats and Brahmins while the Congress counts sections of the backward classes, scheduled caste and minorities as its support base. The Vokkaligas, another dominant community, have stood firmly behind former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda and his former chief minister son, HD Kumaraswamy-led JD(S).
The statements come at a time when several caste groups have intensified their respective demands for better reservation opportunities in employment and education.
Caste plays an important factor in Karnataka’s political and social life as well as targeted policy to help get the backing of such communities.
