Author: Balbir Punj
Publication: The Pioneer
Date: November 20, 2004
Two high profile midnight swoops
within two and half years by the Tamil Nadu Police expose the double standards
in Indian public life. When Ms J Jayalalithaa's stormtroopers in uniform
had picked up the DMK top brass, Mr M Karunanidhi, there was countrywide
uproar across party and ideological lines. 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. Indira Gandhi had the Constitution amended to upturn adverse
court verdicts in the bank nationalisation and privy purse cases. When
her election to the Lok Sabha was struck down, she clamped Emergency, arrested
Opposition leaders and workers in lakhs, gagged the press and made changes
in the law with retrospective effect to legitimise her own election. The
Marxist gang was co-conspirator in this wholescale throttling of democracy.
Mrs Gandhi, when arrested for Emergency excesses, was treated with kid
gloves by the Janata Party regime of Morarji Desai. She chose the time
of her arrest and stayed in a guest-house with all the comforts. Contrast
this with the treatment given to the Shankaracharya.
The "secular" establishment under
Rajiv Gandhi had no compunctions in negating the Supreme Court judgement
in the Shah Bano case under pressure of Muslim clergy. While all courtesy
and comfort is ensured by the establishment to RJD goons in Lalu's Bihar
in spite of court verdicts, several tainted politicians continue to adorn
the treasury benches in the Manmohan Singh Government.
The present and previous Shahi Imams
of Delhi's Jama Masjid have some two dozen cases pending against them.
Recently, a case of keeping black bucks in his courtyard and forcible encroachment
of roads/pavements in Old Delhi were in news. But no government, including
the NDA, showed the courage to execute any summon or warrant against him.
All political parties are indulgent to him in exchange for electoral support.
When a Christian priest is involved
in acts of paedophilia, the intelligentsia gives him the benefit of the
doubt and the law takes a benevolent view. In such a situation, the "secularist"
position is that the accused priest is innocent, the evidence is cooked
up, and the investigating agencies are either corrupt or inefficient or
under the influence of "communalists" (read RSS/VHP, etc). In short, irrespective
of the nature of the evidence, it is projected as a frame-up by some "crafty"
Hindu organisation. Doubts are never raised about the character or functioning
of the accused. The DMK, which is clamouring for the takeover of the Kanchi
mutt by the state, has never made similar demands for the enormous properties
of the church or Wakf.
Recently, a series of bomb blasts
rocked Hyderabad after Maulana Naseeruddin of Tahreek Tafuz-e-Shariyat
Islam was taken away by the Gujarat Police from the Andhra capital on charges
of involvement with the ISI. In fact, the "secular" Congress Government
of Andhra Pradesh was prompt in ordering an inquiry into the events that
led to the arrest of Naseeruddin by the Gujarat Police and filing a case
of murder against ACP Narendra Kumar Amin who made the arrest.
Remember how the "secular" cabal
had pilloried the "communal" Gujarat Police when Ishrat Jahan and her terrorist
friends were killed in police firing in Ahmedabad and arms and ammunitions
were recovered from them? Communists and human rights activists -otherwise
highly trained in locating flaws in any kind of establishment-seem to suddenly
discover immense faith in the fairness of the administration and the police
action.
Human rights are apparently reserved
for Naxalites, insurgents, and Bangladeshi infiltrators. Any attempt to
dislodge the Bangladeshi migrants is met with stiff opposition from the
"secularists", who quote the rulebook and argue on the fine print of the
law. When the Shiv Sena Government in Maharashtra had deported such infiltrators
from Bangladesh, their train was stopped and Forward Block activists in
West Bengal forcibly released them.
Indian jails make special provisions
so that Muslim prisoners who fast during Ramzan can carry out their religious
obligations smoothly. But, sadly, in the case of Shankaracharya, no such
consideration was shown. Why? His position obliges him to perform rituals
in the mutt beginning at half past three in the morning. He is old, diabetic
and, as per custom, eats only self-cooked meal.
However, there can be no two opinions
that the law must take it own course- nothing less, nothing more. Midnight
arrests are not unusual (executed mostly against smugglers, criminals and
fugitives), but to keep metropolitan court open through the night in wait
so that the police can present the Shankaracharya is perhaps something
unique in the history of criminal law in India. The police justify its
commando operation against the seer on the specious logic that he was trying
to escape to Nepal. Does one need any more proof of the establishment's
intentions in this case?
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 statements incriminating the seer
have been obtained from mutt's riffraff capable of implicating or exonerating
any one under inducement or pressure. Whether he is an offender or not
in Sankararaman's murder, the shabby treatment of him underlines the contempt
the establishment has for Hindu sensibilities.
The question is, why was the mutt
targetted? The Kanchi mutt, over the decades, has practiced what Swami
Vivekananda taught: Atmano mokasharthan jagat hitayech (work for the salvation
of self and good of the world). Its constructive influence on Hindu society,
whether on conversion, integration of the Dalits with the rest of Hindu
society, or solution to the Ram Janmabhoomi, has made it a thorn in the
side of anti-national elements. The Kanchi seer and the mutt were seen
as wielding political clout and secured a place in contemporary public
life of the country. The known enemies of Hindu society definitely have
a stake in getting him and the mutt discredited. The institution of the
Shankaracharya is a custodian of an ancient tradition.
There is little doubt that the humiliation
heaped on the mutt is partly the result of competitive Dravidian politics
which has a strong streak of atheism. Ms Jayalalithaa has been a devotee
of the Shankaracharya for many years and the peeth had been the beneficiary
of her largesse. Following the anti-conversion legislation in Tamil Nadu,
she was branded "communal". Now, in order to appear "secular" and lure
PMK and MDMK with AIDMK to her fold, she has decided to act against Shankaracharya
in her typically vindictive fashion. No wonder the "secularists" are happy
to gang up behind her in the game of Hindu-bashing.
The Shankaracharya's "crime" is
yet to be established. But the "secular" cabal has already been proved
guilty of following double standards. The entire "human rights" enterprise
of the Leftists is to help their ideological cousins in their goal to balkanise
India and rationalise the misuse of state against those who believe in
the spiritual traditions, the civil society and integrity of India.