|
Top Stories
Karunanidhi
does an about turn
What is India News Service, Monday, 22
November 2004, 1700 hrs IST
Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam president M Karunanidhi on Monday attributed political and personal motives to the arrest and incarceration of the Kanchi Sankaracharya, Sri Jayendra
Saraswati.
"As far as Jayalalithaa is concerned, there is a background of vindictiveness. Both in Veerappan's case and in the case of the Sankaracharya, there has been no explanation for some doubts raised," he told newspersons here.
Karunanidhi wanted to know why there was a two-month delay in the Acharya's arrest. "What happened during that period? What is the reason for the delay?" The Government would say that the delay was necessitated because of the investigation. But this could not be believed when one considered recent information that was available.
Asked if there was a political motive to the arrest, Karunanidhi said many personal issues were involved. It was now known that there were some "personal matters" between the Sankaracharya and the Chief Minister. "One cannot forget that," he said.
Kanchi Acharya Case: A What is India Compilation
Anguished
by arrest, man kills himself
A 30-year-old Hindu Munnani activist allegedly committed suicideby consuming poison in protest against the arrest of Kanchi seer Jayendra
Saraswati.
Seer
refuses lawyer during interrogation: The Kanchi Shankaracharya
Monday received some relief from the Kancheepuram Judicial Magistrate as the judge refused to extend his police custody as sought by the prosecution.
Rs 5 lakh relief for Sankararaman family:
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa on Monday announced a solatium of Rs 5 lakh to the family of Kancheepuram Varadaraja Perumal temple manager Sankararaman, who was hacked to death inside the temple premises on Sept 3.
Politics and religion mix gives BJP strength:
Finally, the BJP leadership had a reason to smile on Monday, not to cheer though - their move to launch a country-wide three-day dharna and fast to protest the arrest of the Kanchi Shankaracharya has drawn response from neutral quarters.
BJP protest will continue:
The Bharatiya Janata Party's dharna and daylong fast today to protest against the arrest of the Kanchi Sankaracharya
gathered strength from the presence of former President R. Venkataraman.
Mixed response to VHP bundh:
Barring Chhattisgarh where normal life was completely disrupted, the bundh call was largely ignored in most states.
Forced to take to
streets, says Atal: Former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on Monday gave a clarion call for a struggle against a Government which has failed to show respect to holy men. His call for "struggle" drew support from not only from another former Prime Minister, Chandrashekhar, but also from spiritual Guru Sundhanshuji Maharaj and Sant Asaram
Bapu.
Yesterday's headlines
Police continue to grill
pontiff
Advani calls on
junior seer, leaves for Vellore
PM
hopes Acharya will be treated well
Humiliating for
Hindus, says Kalyan
Police
cordon
around mutt
Arrest
anti-Hindu, says BJP
OPINION
Will Hindus ever rise?
SWAPAN DASGUPTA
Maybe, we have become too inured by predictable images of a dharna. Maybe, our measure of outrage has become unnecessarily conditioned by explosive images of Falujah and Palestine. Or, maybe, the battering ram of aggressive rationalism has pulverised our faith in institutions that personify faith and tradition.
Let us accept grim reality for whatever it is worth. The Shankaracharya of Kanchi, a powerful symbol of the sanatan dharma, was arrested on the night of Diwali and charged with murder. He was produced in court the next day, dubbed an "undeserving criminal" by the Public Prosecutor and remanded in police custody. He was allowed no privileges and lodged in an ordinary jail. When he returned to court three days later, he was mocked for his aversion to rahukalam and his unwillingness to sign documents.
As devotees recoiled in horror, police sources fed a hungry media with "evidence" of his mendacity. He was accused of facilitating cash payments to supari killers, of being in telephonic contact with goons and even of plotting an escape by helicopter to Nepal. The junior Shankaracharya was said to have demanded a CBI probe and, with hints of a monastic coup, it was said that his brother had turned approver.
It now transpires that very little of these grave charges can be substantiated. In fact, the police have not even submitted their preliminary evidence to court. You would have imagined that the authorities would have proceeded against a person as revered as the Shankaracharya on the strength of watertight evidence. But no, they arrested and humiliated him on suspicion.
Police and defence affidavits.
Full text in
PDF format
More stories in
earlier editions of What is India:
17
November 2004
18
November 2004
19
November 2004
20
November 2004
22
November 2004
|
Passport row still main roadblock ahead of PoK bus: Despite Pakistan foreign minister Khurshid Mahmood Kasuri's promise of getting Hurriyat leaders to be the first passengers on the proposed Srinagar-Muzzafarabad bus, the two countries are yet to work out the documentation issue.
Manmohan rules out talks on "Assam's sovereignty": Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh Tuesday ruled out any discussion on "Assam's sovereignty" as demanded by the United Liberation Front of Asom. "Assam is an integral part of
India," he said.
Manipur
rape case report submitted: The Upendra Commission, probing the killing of Thangjam Manorama Devi allegedly by the Assam Rifles personnel, submitted its report to the Manipur
Government.
US closes Mumbai consular office, American Center on terror threat:
The United States closed its consular office and the American Center in Mumbai and warned its citizens to take maintain extra vigilance in view of a terror threat.
IE institutes Ramnath Goenka India Press Photo Awards 2004:
The Indian Express group has instituted the award as a part of the group’s ongoing series of events to commemorate the centenary year of its visionary founder Ramnath Goenka.
Special:
What does it mean to be a Hindu in
India?
Unease grows in the hearts of common Indians as they
watch
a revered saint being arrested and humiliated, writes
Soumya Sitaraman
What is
India Editorial
States
Punjab starts police helpline for NRIs: NRIs will now be able to register complaints related to their properties in person as well as through public representatives, Indian embassies, telephone, fax and e-mail.
Fungus-infested meal given to schoolchildren:
In the name of ‘high nutritional-value’ mid-day meals under the Sarv Shiksha Abhiyan project, students of some government-run primary schools of Haryana are being served food unfit for human consumption.
Karnataka
film industry crisis deepens, Raj to lead agitation: Chief Minister Dharam Singh is learnt to have unofficially requested exhibitors to stop screening new non-Kannada films.
Orissa Oppn seeks CBI probe into mining deals:
An Orissa HC order quashing a mining deal executed by a PSU with a private sector company has become a major setback for the Patnaik government.
Neighbours
Pak SC grants bail to Bhutto's husband: The SC has granted bail to Asif Zardari, the jailed husband of Benazir Bhutto, paving the way for his release after some eight years.
Benazir denies
'deal' behind bail: Benazir Bhutto said she had not struck any
deal with the government to have her husband released.
Lankan Muslims seek global help:
Muslims of North and East Sri Lanka, whose rights have been mercilessly trampled upon by Tamil militants with successive governments in Colombo looking on passively, are now planning to seek the assistance of the international community to secure their rights.
Aziz
in Colombo, expects little headway in talks: A reduction of troops by India in Kashmir had helped reduce tension, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz said today, but added he did not expect this to lead to a major breakthrough in talks with Indian leaders this week.
View from
abroad
Indian's soul search on Channel 4: Channel Four has begun telecasting a documentary that focuses on problems faced by British Asians of Indian, Pakistani and Bangladeshi origin to find a suitable partner in Britain.
Praise the Lord, invest in India: Foreign investors, particularly those from Britain, are not scared to put their money into India because of the leftists who support the country's government, according to India-born industrialist Swraj Paul.
Special:
What does it mean to be a Hindu in
India?
Unease grows in the hearts of common Indians as they
watch
a revered saint being arrested and humiliated, writes
Soumya Sitaraman
What is
India Editorial
Overall
Karunanidhi sang a different tune: He now accuses arch rival
Jayalalithaa of vindictiveness in the Kanchi seer case.
Assam part of India, PM said: Manmohan ruled out the demand
for sovereignty.
Benazir's husband was released: The former Pakistan PM is
also being accused of striking a deal with the government to get Ali
Zardari out.
|
