Tuesday, November 23, 2004

Ramesh Rao: The Kanchi Conundrum

November 23

http://rameshnrao.com/blog/

The arrest of the Kanchi seer has become a reason for celebration and triumphalism for the Brahmin haters of Tamil Nadu, led by a writer of tawdry dramas, whose men tried to disrobe the actress who became Chief Minister, and who in turn arrested at midnight the writer of those tawdry dramas when she became Chief Minister. While the VHP, the RSS and the Hindu Dharma Acharya Sabha are dumbfounded by this event and have made sundry calls for bandhs, gheraos, and protests, the internet is abuzz with talk of “Hinduism is under attack”. Conspiracy theories abound, and I get back channel information from someone who heard from someone else about the Kanchi seer being this and that, or that it is a Marxist-Christian-Muslim plot to defeat Hinduism in India.

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2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Kadiravan's retraction of his statement against Sankaracharya suggests that the whole case has been fabricated by the Jayalalitha government. It was absurd to arrest a man of

Sankaracharya's stature on the basis of statements made by hireling thugs. There is nothing

more dangerous than a rogue state using all the official machinery at its disposal to

implicate an innocent person. Such rogue actions that reek of personal vendetta destroys the

common mans faith in the state machinery. Jayalalitha should own responsibility for this

fiasco and resign. If she does not, the centre should dismiss the Tamil Nadu government for creating a dangerous situation in the country based on flimsy and concocted grounds.
The Tamil Nadu police force should be severely reprimanded and the SP of Kanchipuram should be prosecuted for forcing Kadiravan to give a false statement. In future, an independent team from the Central government should investigate claims made by the unreliable and politically manipulated Tamil Nadu police. The Sankaracharya should now seriously begin considering moving the Kanchi matham to a non-hostile state where people respect the position of the Sankaracharya and will be willing to take to arms if there are political machinations by a rogue government. As the BJP has proposed, there needs to be a special legal procedure to handle such cases; the damage done by whimsical waifs like Jayalalitha can prove to be explosive and irreparable.

Anonymous said...

It is difficult for me to understand why a criminal should not be treated like a criminal. I think the arrest of this 'seer' of Kanchi is a big step forward for Indian secularism. This is definitely not an anti-Brahmin conspiracy, it's a simple case of premeditated murder (if proved). As of now, there is overwhelming evidence against Kanchi Acharya; but if he is innocent he will be set free by the courts after the procedure established by law has run its course. If he is nothing more than a brutal murderer than be he treated as one! No one is trying to defeat Hinduism etc. The only ones who spread this fear are the RSS/BJP people themselves through proganda in papers like the Organiser. For them exploiting a religious fracture in society is nothing more than a mobilizational strategy for votes and we as educated people should stop looking as our castes as our defining features. What good is it that I am a Brahmin or a Kshatriya? how does it help anyone? Does it make me a better person? All it allows me to do is be arrogant towards SC's - THAT's ALL! Believing in the supremacy of the upper-castes is a stupid way to live, for nothing can help you if basically you are a morally reprehensible person. I personally feel that people who identify themselves as Brahmins or Rajputs (some people in my community do) suffer from a form of inferiority due to which thet try and build themselves up to be more virile and masculine than they really are. As of now (keeping in mind the evidence) it seems Kanchi Acharya is one such morally reprehensible person.