The Hindu : Front Page : BJP's protest will continue: Vajpayee

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Nov 23, 2004

Front Page

Front Page

BJP's protest will continue: Vajpayee

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, NOV. 22. The Bharatiya Janata Party's dharna and daylong fast today to protest against the arrest of the Kanchi Sankaracharya, Sri Jayendra Saraswathi, gathered strength from the presence of the former President, R. Venkataraman, and the former Prime Minister, Chandra Shekhar, besides some `sants' in saffron and a tantric in black. The party announced at the end of a three-day relay dharna that its protest would continue in a different form and that it would not rest till the Acharya's release from prison was secured.

The BJP's Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, Jaswant Singh, led the protest on the third and last day. Towards the evening, the former Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, joined the protest and said that though the dharna would end today, the "struggle" would continue in other forms till the seer was released from the Vellore prison, where he was lodged again today at the end of a three-day police remand. "We are not here together on a platform... we are out on the streets... there must be [a] Government in place that gives equal respect to all religious leaders... we cannot tolerate adharma," Mr. Vajpayee said.

`A black day'

India was a secular nation but that did not mean the people would watch silently when its religious leaders were maltreated, Mr. Vajpayee said. "Even politicians are treated differently when arrested," he said. "Today, we have come out on the streets to oppose the seer's arrest... the day of his arrest was a black day for the nation... the administration has failed in its responsibilities... we don't want to play politics on this issue or play with people's religious sentiments, but there should be a different set of guidelines for religious leaders."

The BJP leaders, Sushma Swaraj, V.K. Malhotra, Najma Heptullah and Shahnawaz Hussain, were also present at the dharna at Patel Chowk, not far from Parliament House. The National Democratic Alliance convenor, George Fernandes, joined them, saying that when he met the Acharya in jail, the seer had said, "in one day, my reputation was damaged."

Mr. Chandra Shekhar said the arrest had created a confrontationist situation. "If you want to break a nation, destroy its culture and tradition... that is what is happening now." But he warned that the arrest and the protest should not be viewed through a political prism.

Mr. Venkataraman talked of the centuries-old tradition of the Kanchi Mutt and recalled the staunchly secular values of the Paramacharya who preceded the current Sankaracharya.

A number of devotees of the `sants', Asa Ram Bapu and Sudhanshu Maharaj, had joined the protest. But the spotlight was on the tall, bearded tantric wearing black, Sri Sri 1008 Kapalik Mahakal Bhairavananda Saraswati.

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