Why do Lingayat and Vokkaliga communities play an important role in Karnataka elections?

Caste mobilization has always influenced the results in the country’s electoral history. Bihar and Uttar Pradesh are often discussed but the southern state of Karnataka is also not untouched by this. To understand the politics of this electoral state, it is important to understand the major castes here, especially the analysis of the importance of the dominant Lingayat or Veerashaiva-Lingayat community here. Because the role of this community is important in deciding the results here and every party is trying to woo it.

The Lingayat community occupies an important place in the social history of Karnataka. It originated in the 12th century due to a different thought process. People of this thought questioned the existing traditions, social reformer Basavanna and other ‘Vachanakars’ rebelled against the caste system and it was supported by all those who were victims of discrimination, especially the working class. This later took the form of a sect which came to be known as the Lingayats. Lingayats are said to constitute about 17 per cent of Karnataka’s population and dominate 100 of the total 224 constituencies. Most of these seats are from the North Karnataka region.

The Vokkaligas are also a dominant community in Karnataka. According to an estimate, their number is 15 percent of the total population. Other Backward Classes (OBC) constitute 35 per cent, Scheduled Castes and Tribes 18 per cent, Muslims about 12.92 per cent and Brahmins about three per cent. However, according to a caste census conducted between 2013 and 2018, which is yet to be made public, the Lingayat and Vokkaliga population is much less, at nine and eight per cent respectively. The current assembly has 54 Lingayat MLAs across parties, of whom 37 belong to the ruling BJP. Also, of the 23 chief ministers of Karnataka since 1952, 10 have been Lingayats, followed by six Vokkaligas, five from backward classes and two Brahmins.

How important it is to win the support of Lingayats for victory in the upcoming elections on May 10, it can be understood from this that all political parties are leaving no stone unturned to woo this influential community. Till 1989, the Lingayats were in the Congress’s fold and hence the party had a strong support base in the state, but the community turned against him after Rajiv Gandhi sacked the then Chief Minister Virendra Patil in 1990. The Congress, which had won 178 of the total 224 seats in the 1989 elections under Patil’s leadership, was reduced to 34 in the next election.

With the disintegration of the Janata Parivar and the emergence of BS Yeddyurappa in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), a large section of the community shifted to the saffron party, and Karnataka then became its southern stronghold. It became stronger when former chief minister and JD(S) leader HD Kumaraswamy refused to transfer power to Yediyurappa in 2007. This violated the power-sharing agreement of the BJP-JD(S) alliance and then resulted in the fall of the government. The BJP got sympathy in the next assembly elections. As a result, after the 2008 assembly elections, the BJP formed its first government under the leadership of Yeddyurappa, winning 110 seats. However, five years later in the 2013 elections, the BJP was reduced to 40 seats. Because Yeddyurappa had by then parted ways with the BJP and formed a new political party, the Karnataka Janata Paksha (KGP).

Though Yediyurappa’s KJP managed to win only six seats in that election, it got around 10 percent of the vote. Due to this, BJP got a severe blow. Later, Yeddyurappa rejoined the BJP ahead of the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. In the 2018 assembly elections, the BJP managed to win 104 seats and “Lingayat strongman” Yeddyurappa once again became the chief minister.

Aware of the importance of the Lingayat community, the BJP ensured that it named Basavaraj Bommai, another Lingayat, as Yeddyurappa’s successor. He resigned from the post of Chief Minister in 2021 citing age and party system. Even after Yediyurappa recently announced his retirement from electoral politics, the BJP is keeping him at the center of the election campaign with the aim of retaining its Lingayat base. The Congress, however, is claiming that the BJP sidelined Yeddyurappa. The BJP has also tried to pacify the community by increasing their quota by 2 per cent on the demand of reservation by a section of the Lingayat community.

The JD(S) presence is largely confined to the old Mysore region dominated by the Vokkaliga community, while the Congress, which has a pan-Karnataka presence, is making steady efforts to regain lost ground among Lingayats. However, the then Siddaramaiah-led Congress government decided to recommend to the Center to grant ‘religious minority’ status to the Lingayat community, resulting in the party’s electoral defeat in the 2018 assembly elections. The Congress had to face defeat in Lingayat-dominated constituencies. At the same time, most of its leaders who were actively involved in the ‘Separate Lingayat Dharma’ movement also had to face defeat.

The message went out that Congress tried to divide the society by declaring Lingayats as a minority community and its attempt was to stop Yeddyurappa from becoming the Chief Minister. As a result, the Lingayat community mobilized in favor of the BJP. A section led by the Akhil Bharat Veerashaiva Mahasabha demanded a separate religion status, saying that Veerashaivas and Lingayats are equal, while another group wanted it only for Lingayats as they believed that Veerashaivas were one of the seven sects of Shaivism. There is one, which is a part of Hinduism. The Congress has appointed MB Patil, a senior MLA from the Lingayat community, as the chairman of its election campaign committee, while another MLA Ishwar Khandre has been made the working president of the state unit ahead of the 2023 assembly polls. Maths also play an influential role in shaping the Lingayat community socially and politically. Several Lingayat Maths across the state are politically influential.

Another factor is the various sub-castes within the community. Banjiga (to which Yediyurappa belongs), Sadar (a sub-caste of Bommai), Ganiga and Panchamasali play an important role in Lingayat politics. The Panchamasalis, numerically dominant among Lingayats, had until recently led by their saint Basava Jaya Mrityunjaya Swamiji, agitated for higher reservation in employment and education, troubling the ruling BJP government ahead of the assembly elections as they threatened that they would face electoral consequences if their demands were not met. To accommodate them, the government recently decided to increase the quota for Lingayats under the state’s OBC list by two per cent.