Karnataka election: Church not involved in Lingayat issue, says bishops’ body
Mumbai Karnataka Lingayat Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India
Yesha Kotak
An e-mail has been doing rounds on social media which speaks about the role of Roman Catholic Church in demanding a separate religion status for Lingayats | Mumbai news
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Hindustan Times
An e-mail attributed to cardinal Oswald Gracias, archbishop of Bombay, has been doing rounds on social media which speaks about the role of Roman Catholic Church in demanding a separate religion status for Lingayats and nine steps to convert Lingayats to Catholicism.

The Karnataka government in March decided to declare Lingayats a minority religious group and include Veerashaviasas a part of the community. If the proposal gets an approval from the Central government, Lingayats will get additional benefits in education and employment, on par with religious minorities.

The e-mail addressed to Bernard Moras, archbishop of Bangalore, has cardinal Gracias’ name as the sender and secretary general of CBCI in the undersigned section. It says, “On December 21, 2013 the representatives of Holy See (the Pope) in Delhi held its first meeting with Karnataka’s ruling political leadership to press and urge them to grant separate religion status to Lingayats.”

However, bishop Theodore Mascarenhas, secretary general, CBCI, issuing the statement, said, “The Catholic Bishops' Conference of India nor cardinal Gracias will ever indulge in divisive tactics as indicated in that letter.”

He has also added that the circulation of such letter just before the Karnataka elections is a ‘disgraceful mischievous ploy’. “We reserve the right to take legal action against those involved in making and promoting that letter,” the statement adds.