Author:
Publication: UNI
Date: November 23, 2004
Former president R Venkataraman
sought a probe into the arrest of Kanchi Shankaracharya and said
the inquiry should unearth if 'private grievance' was the motive
for the treatment meted out to the seer.
Addressing a meeting of the BJP
agitators, he said it was necessary for the government to ascertain
if there was any 'ulterior motive' behind the arrest of the Jayendra
Saraswati, who happened to be the 69th head of Kanchi Kamakoti Peetha,
which has at least 2000 years of history.
It was all well known that an accused
is 'presumed innocent' until a charge-sheet is filed by the court
but the seer was treated like a 'criminal' from day one. "This has
caused pain and anguish not just in Tamil Nadu but India and abroad",
he said adding that this deserves to be protested.
The observations of the former president
assumed significance in Tamil Nadu politics and indicated soured
relation with Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa.
Recalling the previous Kanchi Acharya,
who lived for a full 100 years, Venkataraman said when he died there,
mourners included several Christian nuns and Muslim believers in
the tradition of the mutt.
The seer had never allowed the mosque
in front of the Kanchi mutt to be razed during the British administration.
Whenever there were prayers, he used to discontinue his discourse
and continue after the sayings were completed, the former president
said.