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Sunday, Jan 16, 2005

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Tamil Nadu Government seeking revenge: BJP

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, JAN. 15. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) today accused the Tamil Nadu Government of working with a motive of seeking "revenge" in registering criminal cases against the Kanchi Sankaracharya, Sri Jayendra Saraswathi, putting him in jail for two months before the Supreme Court granted him bail. The party feared that the State Government could try to take over the Kanchi Sankara Mutt.

Launching the national protest week from today against the treatment meted out to the Acharya, the former Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, warned that the party would not remain quiet over developments in cases against the Acharya as it was an attack on the people, their faith, society and religion.

"We will accept this challenge of the Tamil Nadu Government and we are ready for a long-drawn struggle," he said, while addressing a rally of BJP workers.

President's intervention sought

In a separate development, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) has sought the intervention of the President, the Prime Minister and the Tamil Nadu Governor to prevent the "unconstitutional move" of the State Government to take over the Kanchi Kamakoti Peetham at Kancheepuram.

"It would be consistent with the principle that the secular state shall not interfere in the religious affairs of any religion," the VHP working president, Ashok Singhal, the senior vice-president, Giriraj Kishore, and the secretary-general, Pravin Togadia, said in an appeal to the President, the Prime Minister and the Governor.

Among senior BJP leaders who addressed the gathering were the former Union Minister, Murli Manohar Joshi, the former Rajasthan Governor, Madan Lal Khurana, the party spokesperson and MP, Vijay Kumar Malhotra, and the Delhi unit president, Harshvardhan.

The BJP leaders alleged that the Tamil Nadu Government was involved in a "deeper conspiracy" to take over the Kanchi Mutt and claimed that it could also adopt the route of ordinance. They also demanded dismissal of the State Government.

Referring to the Supreme Court order granting bail to the Acharya, Mr. Vajpayee said that the apex court order has given ample indication that the Tamil Nadu Government had misled people by presenting "twisted facts" relating to the case.

"There are ways to probe a religious institution and checking their administrative methods. In the Kanchi Mutt case, no irregularity has come to light, these are all trumped-up charges which were thrown out by the Supreme Court. The State Government has repeatedly issued contradictory statements to mislead people and it even claimed that the Sankaracharya was trying to flee the country under the cover of darkness. This is humiliating not only to the religious leader but to the people and society as well. This is a challenge to the dignity of religious institutions," Mr. Vajpayee said.

Describing the arrest of the junior Acharya, Sri Vijayendra Saraswathi, on the day Sri Jayendra Saraswati was released on bail as "provocative," the former Prime Minister said that it was an attack on religion, culture and the freedom to practise one's religion in a secular State.

`Well-planned conspiracy'

While demanding dismissal of the Tamil Nadu Government, Dr. Joshi said that there was resentment among the people over the treatment given to the Acharya in jail. He criticised the Centre for maintaining silence over the entire affair in the name of secularism.

He alleged that it was part of a "well-planned" conspiracy to take over the religious places of the Hindus and humiliate their religious leaders.

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