The former MLC and president of Karnataka Kayaka Samajagal Okkuta K.C. Puttasidda Shetty has opposed the demand of Lingayat Panchamasali community for inclusion under 2A category of Other Backward Classes (OBCs).
Addressing presspersons in Hubballi recently, Mr. Shetty termed the demand of Sri Basava Jaya Mrutyunjaya Swami for inclusion under 2A category as unconstitutional.
“All the MLAs and Ministers of the government who assumed office by taking oath to preserve the Constitution should not support the Panchamasali agitation,” he said.
The former MLC, however, clarified that they had no opposition to the demand of reservation. “However, we are opposed to the claim for 15% reservation under 2A category. Panchamasali community is not an exclusive caste but it is part of Veerashaiva Lingayat and it is mentioned like that in the caste certificate also,” he said.
He also said that the State government has no authority to include Panchamasalis under 2A category and that is the reason why the former Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa and Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai have not taken the agitation seriously.
Mr. Shetty made a scathing attack on Sri Basava Jaya Mrutyunjaya Swami for threatening to make the government fall. The seer who has been named after social reformer Basaveshwara is acting against the concept of egalitarian society. The government should not consider the seer’s stand a threat at all, he said.
He said that the okkuta is organising meetings across such unconstitutional agitations to sensitise the backward communities. As part of the initiative, a Belagavi regional level deliberation Chintana Manthana will be held in Hubballi on October 15. Seers of backward communities and legal experts will participate in the deliberations, he said.
