The Panchamasali reservation agitation committee in Karnataka has threatened to field independent candidates in the upcoming assembly elections if the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government does not meet its demand for 2A category reservation to the Panchamasali-Lingayat community. The committee has been protesting for the past 61 days, demanding that the government provide the community with reservation benefits.
Basava Jaya Mrutyunjaya Swami, the honorary president of the Panchamasali reservation agitation committee and seer of the Lingayat Panchamasali Peetha of Kudalasangama, said that the community is considering fielding 52 independent candidates in the elections if the BJP government does not come out with a clear stand on the issue. Addressing the media in Bengaluru on Wednesday, March 15, he said, “The candidates are ready, and discussions are ongoing. The agitation will change its form if the government does not announce its stand on the reservation." He added that the Lingayat community had traditionally supported the BJP, but if the party did not promise to fulfil their demands, they would support another party.
The Karnataka Backward Classes Commission recently announced that its final report on the issue of reclassification, on which the government will have to take a final call, is unlikely to be ready soon. This news has further fueled the committee's agitation.
The Panchamasalis are the largest subgroup within the Lingayat community and claim to make up about 70% of the Lingayat population in Karnataka. They hold considerable political sway in the state. Their ongoing demand for reservation under the 2A category (15% reservation), the most backward category of the Other Backward Classes (OBC), has placed Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai in a difficult position. The Panchamasali protests have even prompted the cabinet to approve the creation of a new OBC category in December 2022 to accommodate their demands.