Bangalore: We support the “Kannada Nadu” regional party launched by Vijaya Sankeshwar, a powerful Lingayat Member of the Lok Sabha just resigned from the Brahmana Jati Party (BJP). We are sure the Lingayat-dominated North Karnataka (NK), the most neglected part of the state, will support the party.
Lingayats form about 15% of the state population and if NK is separated their strength will be doubled and they easily can become the ruling class. That is why the Lingayat religious heads are keen about separation which is good not only for the Lingayats but also the non-Lingayats of NK. The smaller the state, the better attention the people will get. Small is beautiful.
Vokkaligas must welcome it: Vokkaligas of the Old Mysore had opposed the merger of the state with Karnataka fearing Lingayat domination. Their fear has come true. Most of the chief ministers were Lingayats. So, the separation of NK will be good for the Vokkaligas also. They form about 14% of the state population now. When NK gets separated, the Vokkaliga percentage will be doubled and that means they can be the permanent ruling class. Their daily skirmishes with the Lingayats will end. That means the NK separation will be good for the Vokkaligas ‘ also.
Lingayats and Vokkaligas are the state’s two dominant castes (nations) always at loggerheads which has been badly damaging the progress of the state. So, the NK separation will be a great blessing for not only Lingayats but also Vokkaligas.
Fight of 2 elephants: Not only that. The unending feud between the two has affected the progress of Dalits and Muslims who too will get lot of relief with such a separation. When two elephants fight, the entire grasslands and the trees around are destroyed. Dalits, Muslims and BCs will be saved from the constant fight of the two elephants. In other words, the division of Karnataka will strengthen every caste and community.
Lingayats are not Hindu. Basaveswara had founded a new revolutionary religion to liberate all the oppressed sections from the thraldom of Brahminism. Vijaya Sankeshwara’s persecution inside the BJP, particularly under the dictatorial rule of Vaidik Anant Kumar, a Union Minister, must have steeled his resolve to save NK from the Brahmin stranglehold.
Willing servants of vaidiks: But this is not the case with Vokkaligas, a shudra caste group under Hinduism. The Vokkaliga suffering is essentially due to their own willing servitude to Brahminism. Hence the Lingayats and Vakkaligas are two poles which can never meet. This artificial unity has to end sometime or other.
Lingayats are perhaps the country’s most organised community, next only to Brahmins, but their organisational strength under their able religious mutts coupled with their population strength could not bring them any benefit because of this unending feud win Vokkaligas. The capital of the state outside NK has added to their misery.
When so many states can exist for the vast Hindi- speakers comprising UP, Bihar, MP, Delhi etc., there is nothing wrong in Kannada-speakers having two states. Pondicherry and Goa are as big as a district. They are well administered because of their smallness.
Vijaya Sankeshwar deserves the full support of all Dalits, Muslims and BCs — and even right thinking Vokkaligas. Similar movements for regional parties must come up all over India.
