Panchamsalis’s relaunch and the 2A quota controversy in Karnataka

In Belagavi district on Sunday, Panchamsalis, a significant Veerashaiva-Lingayat sect, began its second phase of a statewide campaign for 2A quota and OBC inclusion.

The Panchamsalis started a movement that would be held all across the state in the next days by performing a “Istalinga pooja” (a Hindu prayer ritual) on the Pune-Bengaluru national highway near the state’s border town of Nippani in an effort to get the state government’s attention.

The Istalinga pooja ceremony, which included a prayer for the welfare of the farmers, was conducted by Jayabasava Mrutunjaya Swamy of the Kudalasangama mutt and marked the beginning of the movement.

The purpose of doing the Istalinga pooja on the highway, according to Mrutunjaya Swamy, is to draw the attention of the authorities, not to annoy the drivers.

He said, “The community seeks inclusion in the OBC group of the Union government and reservation in education and jobs in the state under 2A category.

At Basaveshwar Circle, the campaign was launched by presenting a garland to the statue of Basaveshwar. After a big gathering at the Shivaji Maharaj Cultural Auditorium, the campaign was formally launched at the Istalinga pooja on the national highway.

The Istalinga pooja will also be performed as part of the movement on September 18 in Bagalkote and on September 24 in Chadachan Town, followed by all of the districts in the state. Given the size of the community’s population, the mutt has also suggested that it may soon broaden its drive for reservations in Maharashtra.

Speaking to the crowd, the seer expressed disappointment with the previous Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) administration for providing the community with quota in the 2D category rather than the 2A category as demanded. Panchamsalis were among those who supported the state’s Congress administration in the hopes that it would satiate the needs of the neighborhood.

The seer urged the BJP-led NDA government to incorporate the Panchamsali group in the OBC category before the next Lok Sabha election, tacitly warning that the community would vote against it if their demands were not granted.

The seer declared that the community will soon organize a sizable public gathering of the community in the Kudalasangama mutt campus and said that the state government had failed to make a solid decision about the provision of 2A reservation in the period allotted, which concluded on Sunday.

“The former administration provided ‘2D’ reservations rather than ‘2A’. The Supreme Court is now hearing the case of the Panchamsalis’ ‘2D’ reservation after the change in administration. All of the Panchamsali community leaders and lawmakers met with chief minister Siddaramaiah as soon as the Congress administration took office to seek “2A” reservation. After the budget meeting, the chief minister had pledged to give it some thought. He hasn’t spoken about the budget session since it was two months ago, the seer added.

The seer claimed to be excessively exalted by the community’s support and professed confidence in meeting both objectives. Given that Veerashaiva-Lingayat is a politically powerful group in the state and that all other branches of the community have joined the campaign, he added, it is likely that both of its requests would be met.

Members of the Chaturth Lingayat community, including Chikkodi BJP MP Annasaheb Jolle and his wife, former minister and Nippani BJP MLA Shashikala Jolle, took part in the march.

Lakshmi Hebbalkar, the minister for women’s and family welfare in Karnataka, promised the community that she would speak on their behalf once more to the chief minister when she was a lawmaker in the last elected body. Hebbalkar said, “I’ll make an honest effort to meet both of my community’s needs.”

Iranna Kadadi, a BJP member of the Rajya Sabha, informed them that he will bring up the matter in the “Call Attention Motion” during the next legislative session.

Basangouda Patil Yatnal, a BJP lawmaker from Vijayapur, expressed sadness that his party’s administration had not given the community access to the 2A quota. He said that despite the fact that the previous parliament had a sizable number of Panchamsali MPs, they failed to persuade the government to heed his community’s desire. “I feel sorry that being a legislator from the ruling government we couldn’t meet the demand of my community,” he said.

Before the most recent assembly election, the Panchamsalis movement’s phase-1 movement staged six major rallies to demand the 2A reservation from Belagavi district, which was controlled by the Veerashaiva-Lingayat group.