Don=27t_mix_politics_=26_religion=3A_Kanchi_see? r?Date: Thu, 28 Jan 1999 10:04:13 -0000 - The Indian Express

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The Shankaracharya of Kanchi Kamakoti Math, Sri Jayendra
Saraswathi, today said that politicians should keep off the
issue of religious conversions and heads of various religious
faiths should sit together and thrash out the tangle.

Squarely blaming the politicians for the controversy over
conversions in the country, he said while the religious leaders
preached the need for sacrifices, the politicians were dividing
the nation on the fines of castes and religions for the sake of
votes.

Talking to mediapersons after inaugurating the Kanchi Kamakoti
computer centre in the City, the Kanchi seer said religious
faith was a personal affair. However, he hastened to add that
he would not agree with the view that people converted to other
religions for spiritual benefits.

"In almost all cases it is the material benefits that is the
reason for conversion. For God is the same in all religions,"
he remarked.

If religious and social leaders get together, the issue of
conversions could be resolved, he asserted. To another query,
the Seer said that the hallmark of Hinduism was its tolerance
and it had been taken advantage over the years.

"When other religious institutions render any service, for them
the first priority is the people belonging to their faith. But
the Hindu organisations serve everyone, irrespective of their
religious faiths," he said, replying to another query on the
services of the Christian missionaries in the health and
educational sectors.

Asked if the malaise of casteism in Hindu religion had not
contributed to large-scale conversions to other religious
faiths, the pontiff merely said that there were internal
divisions in all religions.

He went on to allege that caste clashes in southern districts of
Tamil Nadu were engineered by political parties. "Politicians
are funding these clashes," he charged.

Asked about the political affiliations of religions leaders, he
quipped: "Politicians can come to spiritual leaders. But
spiritual leaders should not go to the politicians". On ways in
which the Kanchi Mutt would bring about communal amity in
southern districts of Tamil Nadu, he said "we are doing our work
silently without any publicity".

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