Karnataka’s Lingayat Identity Crisis: A Politically Charged Debate
Karnataka is currently embroiled in a significant identity debate, particularly within the Veerashaiva-Lingayat community, the state’s largest caste group. This controversy unfolds as the state embarks on its second socio-economic survey, initiated on September 22, 2025.
The Karnataka Social and Educational Survey 2025, conducted by the Karnataka State Commission for Backward Classes, aims to gather data on socio-educational and economic indicators. While its primary goal is to assess the “backwardness” of various caste groups, the dominant communities are primarily focused on consolidating their numerical strength.
A recurring point of contention has been the internal confusion and disagreements within the Veerashaiva-Lingayat community regarding their self-identification. Representatives from caste organizations, political leaders, and spiritual leaders (seers) have issued conflicting calls on how members should identify their community and caste in the survey’s ‘Religion’ column.
This raises crucial questions: Why has the demand for a separate religious identity for Veerashaiva-Lingayats resurfaced now? And what exactly is the confusion surrounding their nomenclature?
Understanding Lingayats and Veerashaivas
The Lingayats, a powerful community in Karnataka both in numbers and political influence, follow the teachings of the 12th-century social reformer, philosopher, and poet Basaveshwara. Basaveshwara challenged the prevailing caste system and Vedic rituals, advocating for a distinct spiritual path. Proponents of a separate religious status for Lingayats argue that this historical rebellion was fundamentally an opposition to the established Hindu order. They believe that their worship of ‘Parashiva’ and the unique principles of ‘Ishta Linga’ (a personal, portable deity) and conduct prescribed by Basaveshwara are distinct from the traditional Hindu way of life.
In contrast, the Veerashaiva tradition is a branch of Shaivism that predates the Lingayat movement. Its followers adhere to the Vedas and consider themselves part of the broader Hindu faith.
The Persistent Struggle for a ‘Lingayat’ Identity
The call for a distinct Lingayat identity has been simmering for over four decades, with significant surges in recent times. A major movement advocating for independent religious status for ‘Lingayatism’ gained momentum in 2017, leading up to the 2018 Assembly elections.
In December 2017, the then Karnataka government, under Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, formed a seven-member expert committee led by former High Court judge H.N. Nagmohan Das. Its mandate was to assess proposals for recognizing Lingayats as a religious minority.
Following the committee’s recommendation and State Cabinet approval in March 2018, the Karnataka government granted “religious minority” status to Lingayats and Veerashaivas who adhere to Basava Tatva. The state then urged the central government to formalize this status under the Central Minority Commission Act.
However, this recognition was short-lived. On December 10, 2018, the Union government informed the Karnataka High Court that it had rejected the state’s recommendation. It reaffirmed its stance, as conveyed in a letter dated November 23, 2018, that the Lingayat/Veerashaiva community is an integral part of the Hindu religion.
Looking ahead, reports indicate that Veerashaiva-Lingayats plan to demand a unique religion code for their community in the 16th national census, slated for October 2026. The Akhila Bharatha Veerashaiva-Lingayat Mahasabha (ABVLM) intends to push for a specific code, column, or abbreviation in the census form to officially record their religion as Veerashaiva-Lingayat, thereby seeking recognition as an independent religion.
Diverse Stances Within the Community
The “separate religion” movement has recently gained significant traction. For the first time in years, spiritual leaders (seers) from both the ‘Guru’ and ‘Virakta’ traditions within the Veerashaiva-Lingayat community shared a platform at the ‘Veerashaiva Lingayat Ekata Samavesh’. This gathering aimed to convey a message of unity, asserting that ‘Veerashaiva’ and ‘Lingayat’ are synonymous. Despite this, the convention concluded without a clear consensus on the preferred nomenclature for their identity.
While both the Jagatika Lingayat Mahasabha (JLM), representing Lingayats, and the Akhila Bharatha Veerashaiva-Lingayat Mahasabha (ABVLM), representing Veerashaiva-Lingayats, advocate for separate religious status, internal divisions remain. The JLM advises Basaveshwara’s followers to mark ‘Lingayat’ under the ‘Others’ option in the religion column, while the ABVLM urges members to identify as ‘Veerashaiva-Lingayat’ as their religion. Both groups recommend specifying sub-castes in the caste column.
This contrasts with the powerful and numerically strong Panchamasali community, which has, for now, opted to list ‘Hindu’ as their religion and ‘Lingayat Panchamasali’ as their caste. However, the Akhila Bharatha Lingayat Panchamsali Trust has encouraged its followers to specify ‘Lingayat’ under the religion category.
Some political figures within the community, who oppose re-categorization, argue that the Lingayat movement was a reformist wave, similar to the Bhakti movement, rather than an attempt to break away from the larger Hindu framework.
BJP leaders, such as Vijayapura MLA and former BJP member Basanagouda Patil Yatnal, have cautioned Veerashaiva-Lingayats against adopting a new religious identity, citing potential loss of reservation benefits. He emphasized that registering as Veerashaiva-Lingayat would be futile without central government recognition.
Is This a Congress Strategy?
Karnataka’s BJP leaders, including former Chief Ministers Basavaraj Bommai and Jagadish Shettar, have characterized the ongoing survey as a “Congress ploy” designed to fragment the larger Hindu community by leveraging caste organizations. They argue that while the Constitution acknowledges only six religions, the inclusion of an ‘Others’ column in the survey is intended to incite Veerashaiva-Lingayats and disrupt Hindu unity.
Aware of the electoral fallout from a similar demand in 2018, the Congress party is treading carefully this time, striving to alleviate any doubts surrounding the survey. Deputy CM D.K. Shivakumar clarified, “Let there be no suspicion about this. This is not merely a caste survey; it is fundamentally about social justice. Our objective is to uplift communities socially and educationally. There is no reason for any other suspicion. We have empowered individuals with the choice to self-declare their identity.”
Notably, several prominent Congress leaders, including Cabinet Ministers Eshwar Khandre and M.B. Patil, along with MLA Shamanur Shivashankarappa (who also heads the ABVLM), Vijayanand Kashappanavar, and Vinay Kulkarni, have previously supported the demand for a separate religious code for the community.
Furthermore, the survey generated controversy with the initial inclusion of Christian sub-castes like Lingayat Christian, Kuruba Christian, Brahmana Christian, and Vokkaliga Christian. Veerashaiva-Lingayat seers accused the Siddaramaiah-led Congress government of deliberately promoting conversions. Following public outcry, the Commission subsequently decided to remove 33 Christian sub-castes from the survey.
Political Repercussions
The Lingayat community, estimated to represent 10-17% of Karnataka’s population and categorized under Other Backward Classes (3B), wields significant political influence, particularly in the Kalyana Karnataka and Kittur Karnataka regions.
Historically, Congress’s support for a separate Lingayat movement in 2018 proved detrimental. While the party had 26 Veerashaiva-Lingayat legislators in 2013, this number dropped to 16 in 2018. This shift is widely believed to have contributed to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s defeat in the Chamundeshwari constituency, which has a substantial Lingayat population.
However, the political landscape shifted dramatically in 2023, with 34 Veerashaiva-Lingayats securing wins on a Congress ticket—the party’s best performance since 1989, when they had 45 such legislators.
Conversely, the BJP, or ‘saffron party,’ saw its count of Veerashaiva-Lingayat legislators fall from 38 in 2018 to just 18. Now numerically overshadowed by the Congress, the BJP and RSS are concerned that granting a religious minority tag could further fragment Hindu votes. They are particularly displeased with community organizations urging members not to identify as ‘Hindu’ in the survey.
It’s important to acknowledge that sustained pressure from the Veerashaiva-Lingayat community was a key factor in the state government undertaking this new socio-educational survey. Community leaders have long contended that their population figures, which they claim range from 17% to 22% (and sometimes up to 30%), were significantly underestimated in the 2015 H. Kantharaj Commission survey, which put them at approximately 6.635 million, or about 11%. For decades, this community has strategically used its estimated population data to negotiate for political power.
Potential Impact of the Survey Results
Backward Classes Commission chairman Madhusudan Naik has clarified that the religion column in the enumeration holds no direct value for the commission’s work, as religion falls outside its purview. He stated, “We will not be evaluating on the basis of religion, and information is being sought under a broader category.”
Addressing efforts by Veerashaiva-Lingayat groups to categorize their members under “others” in the religion column, Naik explained, “In their movement for religion, they are free to advise their community members to identify themselves in a specific way. However, during our analysis, this particular classification will not carry weight. Our primary focus is to conduct an analysis based on socio-economic, educational, and political backwardness.”