Bengaluru, Aug 1 (DHNS): Water Resources Minister M B Patil on Monday said that he made a mistake signing a memorandum that was submitted to the Centre in 2013, seeking separate religion status and census code for the Veerashaiva-Lingayat community.

Patil has since changed his stand. He is now of the opinion that Veerashaivas and Lingayats are not the same. “A careful reading of 12th century social reformer Basavanna’s literary works will establish this,” Patil argued in a letter to the Akhila Bharata Veerashaiva Mahasabha on July 29, copies of which were released to the media here on Monday.

The works of the late scholars Hiremallur Ishwaran and Prof M M Kalburgi also point to Lingayat being a religion in itself, he stated. “The Lingayat religion, which goes back 800 years before the Indian Constitution, finds mention in the British records and Ferdinand Kittel’s dictionary identifying Basavanna as the religion’s founder.”

“Veerashaiva Mahasabha must understand that Veerashaiva-Lingayat will not get a separate religion tag. The demand has to focus on separate religion status for the Lingayats,” Patil wrote. He urged Mahasabha to convene a meeting of leaders and thinkers “and take the Veerashaiva community into confidence and reach consensus on seeking a religion tag for Lingayats.”