Hours after Karnataka government’s approval to grant separate religion status to Lingayat community, the decision has faced first dissenting voice to it.

Veerashaiva Lingayat Samanvaya Samiti President Chandrashekhar Hiremath has opposed the decision of the state government terming it as a politically motivated decision. He was speaking to the media few hours after the decision.

“Decision of the state cabinet to recommend to the Indian government to treat Lingayat as a separate religion is a purely politically motivated decision. I strongly oppose this,” said Hiremath.

Hiremath said the Veerashaiva Lingayat Samanvaya Samiti had even opposed the formation of a committee to submit a report on whether Lingayat can be granted a separate religion status.

“We had initially opposed the entire constitution of a committee headed by Nagamohan. None is expert concerned to our religion nor they have knowledge of the different religion & customs in Karnataka. We strongly oppose it,” said Hiremath.

Earlier in the day, Karnataka cabinet had approved the demand of Lingayat seers and granted them a separate religion status on the recommendations of a committee headed by former judge HN Nagamohan Das. The move is seen as an appeasement tactic before the Karnataka state assembly election scheduled in May this year.