The Siddaramaiah govenment’s move to give minority status to Lingayats, who make up Karnataka’s largest social group and influence almost 100 seats, has split the community. Lingayats have traditionally voted for BJP, whose CM candidate BS Yeddyurappa is also a Lingayat, but Congress is hoping this time to wean away some community voters with its minority status card. Election With Times, in Episode 5, travels to the 14th century Siddganga Math, the biggest Lingayat shrine in Karnataka to gauge the political pulse on the ground.
Why Lingayat vote is decisive in Karnataka elections
Nalin Mehta
Professor Nalin Mehta is Dean, School of Modern Media, UPES; Advisor, Global University Systems and Non-Resident Senior Fellow, Institute of South Asian Studies, National University Singapore. He is an award-winning social scientist, journalist and author who has held senior leadership positions in major Indian media companies; international financing institutions like the Global Fund in Geneva, Switzerland; taught and held research positions at universities and institutions in Australia (ANU, La Trobe University), Singapore (NUS), Switzerland (International Olympic Museum) and India (IIM Bangalore, Shiv Nadar University).