|
Leaving aside the
rooftop cheers of rabid anti-Hindu and anti-Brahmin outfits like the
DMK, whose leader is commonly known as a ruthless politician with no
scruples, the political bluster of ministers and those seeing the
developments as a means to garnering the limelight for themselves,
there is a growing unease in the hearts of common Indians. To add to
it is the unbelievable silence of the prime minister and the chief
minister of Tamil Nadu, whose policemen arrested the
seer.
What does it mean to be a
Hindu in India anymore?
It seems to mean that the heavy books of law will be thrown
at you literally and figuratively.
That you, by virtue of being a so-called majority, are denied
the exceptions and the accommodations made for all others, that you will be called a murderer even though the
public prosecutor has failed to provide adequate evidence against
you and is fumbling and asking for more time.
Guilty
before proven innocent
Acknowledged murderers like
Veerappan, who have taken the lives of our policemen, security
personnel, innocent villagers and anyone who stood in their way, are
lauded as “Chandana Veerappan” and “Robin Hood.” The incestuous circle comes
to a tight close.
Laura Kelly, in an article titled
H H Sri Jayendra Saraswati - A Victim of Gutter
Politics of Tamilnadu, says Veerappan had links with
Karunanidhi. The editor of the Tamil magazine Nakkeran, who also had
contacts with Veerappan, published a news item about Sankararaman's
murder. He had been in contact with Sankararaman.
As Balbir
Kunj writes in The Pioneer, “While, ironically,
the same DMK is celebrating Kanchi Shankaracharya's humiliating
midnight arrest, the 'secularists' and self-proclaimed human rights
activists are busy rationalising the sordid drama in the name of
"rule of law" and "equality before the law". Those (the Left and
other "secularists") who are now quoting the rules have no respect
either for the law or the Constitution.”
Anuradadha
Dutt says in the same paper, “Shortly after the news of the
arrest of Kanchi Shankaracharya Jayendra Saraswati broke, a shocked
politico observed on a news channel that though there were numerous
cases pending against the Jama Masjid Shahi Imam, no one had dared
to arrest him for fear of upsetting the
Muslims.”
As thought this
were not enough to raise public suspicion, now comes a glaring slap
of a judgment in another murder case against a PMK leader.
How different is the Panruti MLA from the seer?
Shouldn't the law be applied equally? The Hindu reported,
“The Madras High Court today granted anticipatory bail to the
Pattali Makkal Katchi MLA from Panruti, T. Velmurugan, who is an
accused in a murder case. He was directed to stay in Coimbatore and
sign before the judicial magistrate there daily.” And Justice S. Ashok Kumar,
while rejecting the plea of Velmurugan's brothers, Thirumavalavan
and Kannan, said, "Normally, in a case of murder, anticipatory bail
is not granted, except in exceptional cases and for cogent
reasons."
One would ask, “Does not the very position,
prestige and respect the Acharya commands make this an exceptional
case? Does not the
unprecedented stench of anti-Hindu political wrestling focused on
one of the richest Hindu mutts make this an exceptional case? Does not the hasty arrest without
due process targeting the leader of a majority of Hindus make this
an exceptional case?”
Who is the person we
are looking at? Is it another
common criminal, an individual with criminal cases against him, or a
saint with a clean track record to date? Who is this Shankaracharya that
the press has been so quick to condemn? What makes them jump to adverse
conclusions? Is it media bias? It is well known that Sun TV
is owned by the DMK, whose rank and file are celebrating this
arrest. Jaya TV is
owned by the chief minister of Tamil Nadu and The Hindu has marital
connections with the DMK. Their coverage has caused people to
question their neutrality, and a group has called for a mass
cancellation of subscription to The Hindu.
The Shankaracharya's Hindu Brahmin status has
made him a target of the DMK and other “atheist” groups, and his
unorthodox ideas to integrate modern Indian life and keep the mutt
“contemporary” have alienated him from staunch orthodox
Hindus.
One can see his logic: Tibet remained a “spiritual”
country, but isolated from the modern world against the will of the
people of that country. Tibet, as it was, no longer exists. The Acharya’s proactive stance was
perhaps a way to prevent inviolate obsolescence. His proactive forays to gain
political representation for the Hindus was the basis of a
longstanding misunderstanding between him and the murdered
Shankararaman.
Rights and
wrongs
Some
state that the arrest
could not have been made without the specific authorisation of the
Chief Minister, in view of the standing of the mutt worldwide, the
high profile enjoyed by Sri Jayendra Saraswati, and the
ramifications of such a course of action, and that Jayalalithaa had
“been punctilious in respecting the Hindu sentiments and the
sanctity of its institutions.” Thus, the paper says, there is
absolutely "no reason to suspect any ulterior motives on her part,
or on the part of the police.”
Jayalalithaa on Wednesday broke
her silence on the arrest, asserting in the Assembly that he had
been held on "startling and definite information" about his
involvement in a murder case.
Lack
of evidence
“Whether the seer is guilty or not
will be known after the court verdict. But whatever "evidence" the
prosecution has produced so far, can at
best be termed dubious. It is based on cell phone records and
the phone does not belong to the Shankaracharya. The money recovered
from the alleged killers has been traced to a bank account, not that
of the mutt but an NGO.
The counsel for the Acharya has
clearly stated in interviews with NDTV that the evidence was not
conclusive. The public
prosecutor has himself requested time to gather his “evidence”
|
|
What
motives?
What motive could the Acharya have
had? If we are going to
speculate that this ascetic will benefit in some way by this murder,
make off with crores that are his to control in any case, we should
also consider that it is being said that Shankararaman’s threatened
expose of mutt irregularities caused the acharya to have him
murdered.
The charge
is that the Acharya spoke to hired killers and ordered the
murder. Some have
called for a cool analysis of the situation. Realistically speaking,
a man with as much influence as the Acharya need never have to call
a killer, hand over money, and commit murder.
Our nation has hundreds of
criminals who “distance” themselves from such acts with ease. Any number of people could
have killed Shankararaman, including the notorious associates of the
Nakkeeran editor whom Shankararaman contacted. This could have been done to frame
the Acharya and cause enough chaos to warrant political control of
an institution flush with cash. After all, the prime source of
unofficial political cash, Veerappan, is dead, and until someone
fills his shoes, the cash will cease to flow.
The political angle
Why did Jayalalithaa give
her nod to the midnight arrest of the pontiff in Mahboobnagar on
Diwali? Until a few months ago, the Kanchi seer was one of her close
advisers. Why did DMK chief Karunanidhi insist on sitting in a
dharna for inquiry into Sankararaman's murder?
Some assert
that Jayalalithaa and her party have been
very close to the holy man, so the turn of events is quite
startling: "It has to be assumed that a presentable case has been
built up against the Sankaracharya, although Ms Jayalalithaa has
never been known to be too particular about criminal cases. The
electoral drubbing she received after her tie-up with the BJP and
her pro-Hindu policies may have forced her to look for ways to
rebuild an anti-Brahminical image. At least her action has
pre-empted Mr Karunanidhi from making a to-do about the charges
against the Kanchi head, and has suggested that she is growing
distant from the BJP’s Hindutva line”
The difference lies
in the community the arrested seer belongs to. “The inference was that political
compulsions, hinging on wooing minority votes, had cast a protective
cordon around the Islamic pontiff, who is notorious as a
rabble-rouser In this case, the timing and surreptitious manner of
the seer's arrest, on Diwali, followed by a long weekend and Id,
another holiday, suggests that something unholy is brewing. For, the
closure of the courts and jails in this period ensured that the
Shankaracharya could be hurriedly secreted away without hope of
redressal until the vacation ended. It was a deliberate move to
preempt remedial action on his behalf.
Several groups say political parties have
their eye on the mutt's coffers.
The DMK has gone so far as to suggest that the mutt
management should come under a government board. However Jayalalithaa has said she
is not
interested in taking over the hoary institution.
"We want that the mutt should not be defamed.
We do not want the mutt to come to a standstill," she
said.
The aftermath of the arrest of has brought into
sharp relief several issues relating to the management of religious
mutts in general. While it is true that these organizations
control vast sums of money and are not required to report their
financial dealings to the public in general, they do not differ in operation to any other
religious group world over.
However, the political motives seem to be
stronger than any the Acharya could have had to be a party to this
murder. Apart from the cash involved, there is a lot of control and
power associated with the mutt’s various organizations. He has
reportedly told high-profile visitors that he was a victim of
Jayalalithaa's vendetta. The
seer reportedly said he had refused to make over a popular and
well-established medical school run by the Kanchi Mutt trust to
Jayalalithaa, and this had further angered the chief
minister.
News:
BJP launches nationwide stir
against seer's police remand
What is India News roundup
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
Write to the editor
|
|
