Hanged Before Hearing

The Outlook report on the Shankaracharya illustrates its double standards

BALBIR K. PUNJ

Swami and Fiends, along with the inset How to Cash In (Outlook, Nov 29), on the Shankaracharya affair, was a typical trial by the media. It was also in line with the general editorial policy of Outlook to 'cash in' on any opportunity to nail those who believe in the spiritual traditions of this ancient land. Facts, as usual, were either twisted or cooked up to hit predetermined targets (read Hindutva forces, BJP/RSS). The report says, "This is not the first time Jayendra Saraswati seems to have organised an attack through goons".

Outlook pronounced him guilty even before the trial! The report is based on half-truths and rumours. Innuendoes and baseless allegations levelled by known enemies of the math and the police have been produced with suitable exaggerations as part of a 'journalistic investigation'.

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Over the years, muck has been accumulating behind the math walls. Hard to believe, but scandalous stories of sleaze, debauchery, greed and sex are doing the rounds," says the report, without quoting a single authentic source. Outlook further alleges, "Accretion of property necessitated contacts with rowdy elements, apparently leading to a Mumbai underworld-style killing". Again a serious allegation without any evidence.

While reporting any police action, Outlook and the 'secular media' are generally wary of the establishment version. Remember the outcry over the Ansal Plaza shootout in Delhi when the police had killed a couple of terrorists? Or how Ishrat Jahan was portrayed as an innocent college girl after she was killed with her armed Islamist comrades outside Ahmedabad by the Gujarat police? In each case, the 'secularists' disbelieved the authorities, picked holes in the official version and declared the terrorists innocent.

In contrast, the Outlook story on the seer is based entirely on the prosecution case. The magazine has happily swallowed the Tamil Nadu government's version hook, line and sinker. Suddenly, the trigger-happy policemen who are devil incarnates while dealing with isi agents have turned into paragons of virtue.

What was the need for a midnight swoop reminiscent of a similar action against the DMK top brass? The argument that the Shankaracharya was planning to escape to Nepal in a helicopter is specious. Wouldn't a chopper have to take several refuels on way to Nepal from Andhra Pradesh? Anyway, India has an extradition treaty with the Himalayan kingdom. Have the police identified the person or company sponsoring his chopper flight? Understandably, no inconvenient questions have been asked.

The prison rules in Tihar jail are suitably changed to accommodate the dietary requirements (including timings) for Muslim convicts during Ramzan. The Shankaracharya is merely an accused so far (in fact, innocent till proven guilty). But no such consideration was shown to him. And Outlook is conveniently silent on this aspect. Why?

The 'secularists' vie with each other to speak for the 'human rights' of Naxals, terrorists of various hues and Bangladeshi infiltrators. They quote the fine print of law to bail them out of tight situations. Here, a centuries-old, respected institution has been targeted. In the process, a 70-year-old diabetic seer (who is revered by millions) has been victimised for political ends. No questions are being asked. Why? Because all this has the obvious approval of the 'secularists'. But any move to oppose this farce and injustice is termed by Outlook as an effort by the BJP/RSS 'to cash in'. Nothing can be more perverse than this.

The inset on 'cashing in' was in utter bad taste. It's sordid to reduce the event to merely caste, communal or political equations.

And, it is presumptuous to say that only Brahmins are shaken by the arrest; it has hurt all, minus the 'secularists' who are a creed (a rootless one) by themselves.

Much to Outlook's disappointment, former president R. Venkataraman has condemned the treatment meted out to the seer. A host of religious and political leaders, across party, caste and ideological lines—including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, ex-PM Chandra Shekhar, George Fernandes and Mulayam Singh Yadav—have expressed their anguish over the framing of the seer.

Millions of Shankaracharya followers are hurt but they suffer in silence. If the Shahi Imam (against whom two dozen unexecuted warrants are pending) were arrested, his followers would have been on the warpath. Is having peaceful followers a disqualification? This is as presumptuous as saying the RSS is Brahmin-dominated. The RSS is less Brahmin-dominated than the ias, the Marxist jnu, the 'secular' media or the Congress. It's vile to reduce Hindus to one caste. In fact, many of those working against Hindu interests with jehadi vehemence—from E.M.S. Namboodiripad to Nehru—have been Brahmins. But again, to use Brahmins as a disparaging epithet is to show disrespect towards India's spiritual and intellectual traditions.

I don't know of any 'great Hindu opportunity' in this sordid episode. From the disturbing demographic changes revealed in the last census to the humiliation heaped on the Shankaracharya, many 'great Hindu ordeals' are in the making. These can never be salubrious to the health of the pluralist/secular structure of India. Even M. Karunanidhi, who had earlier welcomed the Shankaracharya's arrest and proposed that the state take over the math property, now senses a conspiracy by Jayalalitha against the seer. It's clear that to notch up space in 'secular' politics, Jayalalitha has decided to humiliate the seer, with 'secularists' like Outlook happily acting as cheer boys on the sides.