Why are the Panchamshali Lingayats protesting in Karnataka and what do they want

Bengaluru, Dec 22: On December 22, Thursday, over a lakh members of the Panchamasali Lingayat community, a sub-sect of the upper Lingayat group in Karnataka comprising nearly 18 per cent of the state's population staged a massive protest from the Suvarna Soudha in Belagavi.

They are demanding reservation in jobs in education and the government sector.

The protest was led by BJP MLA Basanagouda Patil who has been vocal against party leaders B S Yediyurappa.

The Panchamasali Lingayats comprise 60 per cent of the Lingayat population and they have claimed that they have not been given much needed political representation depute forming a larger chunk of the Lingayat community. They also said that they have the power to influence 100 seats in the Kittur Karnataka region which was earlier called the Mumbai-Karnataka region with 7 districts.

Uttara Kannada, Belagavi, Gadag, Dharwad, Vijayapura, Bagalkot, and Haveri are part of the Kittur Karnataka region.

The Panchamasali Lingayats are the largest formation of the various sub-sects of the Lingayat Community and they are mostly farmers and this is the reason they carry a plough as their symbol. They want to move to the 2B category as they will get 15 per cent reservation. Currently the Veerashaiva Lingayats get 5 per cent reservation under the 3B category of the OBC quota.

The issue has become a headache for Karnataka Chief Minister, Basavaraj Bommai ahead of the crucial assembly elections next year. Several communities among the OBCs in Karnataka are also seeking an increase in their reservation quota.

On Tuesday the Karnataka government tabled a Bill in the assembly to increase reservations for Schedule Cates from 15 to 17 per cent. For the Schedule Tribes it was an increase from 3 to 7 per cent in the state and this breached the Supreme Court's mandate of 50 per cent cap on quotas.

In Karnataka the SCs make up for 16 per cent of the population while in the case of the STs it is 6.9 per cent.

On Thursday, December 22, the Karnataka Permanent Backward Classes Commission submitted its interim report to the state government. The report was handed over to CM Bommai by the chairman of the commission, Jayaprakash Hegde. The CM had said that an appropriate decision on the report by the commission would be taken.