‘Congress is creating confusion among Lingayats’

“The Congress is creating confusion among the Lingayats over the nomenclature of the community,” Eeranna Kadadi, Rajya Sabha member and BJP leader, said.

The Congress has burnt its fingers by fiddling into the issues related to Lingayats earlier. But it does not seem to learn from its mistakes, he said. He was speaking on Friday after Hanumanth Nirani filed his nominations for the Legislative Council polls in Belagavi.

“It is not for politicians to decide on whether the terms Lingayat or Veerashaiva should be used for the community. Religious leaders and community leaders should decide that,” he said. To a query, he said he believed that the two terms were used interchangeably.

He reiterated his stand that Lingayats were a part of Hinduism. There is no meaning is the statement that Lingayats are not Hindus. Hinduism is a religion and Lingayat is a caste. Hinduism is a way of life and therefore all Indians are Hindus, he said.