Hindutva attack on seer unites Lingayats, progressives

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru: The concerted attacks of Hindutva groups against a Lingayat seer have prompted diverse sections of civil society to come together and express solidarity with the pontiff and push back against what they see as a hate campaign.

A controversy had erupted three weeks ago when Panditaradhya Shivacharya Swamy of the Sanehalli mutt in Chitradurga district had asked fellow Lingayats to stop worshipping Lord Ganesha and focus on ‘Vachanas’.

The ‘Vachanas’ are poems composed by ‘Sharanas’ or early followers of Basavanna, the 12th century saint and philosopher to whom Lingayats owe their religion.

“Ganapati isn’t Lingayat culture. Lingayats should recite Vachanas instead of starting events with a prayer to Ganapati,” the seer had said.

This had triggered a furious response from supporters of the Hindutva cause, with many of them even threatening the seer.

Dismayed by the attacks, more than 300 activists, authors and religious leaders gathered at the Gandhi Bhavan in Bengaluru on Tuesday for a closed door meeting.

Notably, Lingayat supporters of Panditaradhya Swamy were new to this particular group. The Lingayats, many of whom have been agitating for a separate religion tag, see the diatribes against the seer as an attack on Basavanna’s philosophy.

Among the attendees was writer Banjagere Jayaprakasha, poet SG Siddaramiah, Dalit author Mavalli Shankar, activist Siddana Gowda Patil and others who chose to not be named.

They expressed solidarity with Panditaradhya Swamy but sought to do more than that and offer a political alternative to Hindutva. Shankar noted that there was a need to wean Dalit and Backward Classes youth away from Sangh Parivar’s ideology.

Noting that progressives such as MM Kalburgi and journalist Gauri Lankesh had similarly been subjected to diatribes before being murdered, the activists said that they needed to counter the “hate campaign”.

Demand for 'Kalyana' again

Numerous attendees called upon Panditaradhya Swamy to revive his mass contact programme named “Matte Kalyana”, which is Kannada to the second coming of Kalyana.

It is a reference to the 12th century city Kalyana, wherein the Lingayat movement sought to create an egalitarian society.

The “Matte Kalyana” programme was launched in 2019 in all districts of the state to preach the Lingayat perspective of equality through plays and lectures.

The seer said that he would consider restarting the programme in which Dalits and Muslims had also participated.