Taking cue from the Lingayat community, which was recently accorded minority status by the Karnataka government, the state’s Kodava community has now placed a similar demand.
On Wednesday, 21 March, two members from the Kodava community- MM Bansy and Vijay Muthappa submitted a memorandum before the state minorities department regarding the same. The memorandum has reportedly been forwarded to the minorities commission.
According to a Times of India report, the memorandum states that since the Kodavas are a community with a mere 1.5 lakh population, with their own language, they too should be given the minority tag.
The Kodavas are a martial race native to the Kodagu region in Karnataka. The Kodava thakk language, which is script-less, is being considered by the Centre for inclusion in the Eight Schedule of the Constitution.
BJP MP Subramanian Swamy reportedly visited the Kodagu hills and supported their demands for a separate minority tag, while asserting that he would soon introduce a private member’s bill in the parliament regarding their autonomy.
The TOI report states that the memorandum submitted by the two representatives mentioned that the community ‘did not follow many of the Hindu customs, and had it’s own distinct costumes.’
Speaking to TOI, the president of the Kodagu Natural Sciences Society, Lt Gen BC Nanda supported the community’s demand for a minority status. He said that the Kodavas had resided in Kodagu for over 2,000 years, and was declared a ‘C’ state after independence. In 1956, it became a part of Karnataka.
Incidentally, the Karnataka government had earlier attempted to grant the community a tribal status following the submission of a memorandum by the Codava National Council. However, the proposal was abandoned after objections were raised by Congress tribal leaders as well as leaders from the Kodava community in itself.
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