Jaya to Governor: We plan to take over Kanchi mutt

Sunday January 16 2005 03:06 IST

CHENNAI: In what could kick off a political storm, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa on Saturday evening sent a communication to Governor S S Barnala that her government planned to bring an ordinance to take over the functioning of the Kanchi mutt.

This is a dramatic U-turn from her statement in the Assembly, shortly after the Shankaracharya's arrest in a murder case, that the state government had no such plans.

On November 11, Jayendra Saraswati was arrested in Mehboobnagar in connection with the murder of mutt manager Sankararaman. He was freed on bail earlier this week but hours later his brother was arrested in the same case.

Reliable sources said that the communication was sent to Raj Bhavan when the Governor was away, attending a function in Cuddalore. And the Union Home Ministry made several anxious calls.

Confirming the receipt of such a note, sources in Raj Bhavan told this website’s newspaper on Saturday night that the Governor would consult legal experts, and “if need be,'' even “senior colleagues'' before reacting.

It's not clear yet whether this is a trial balloon that Jayalalithaa has floated to force the political parties in the state to take a stand on this sensitive issue.

But for the BJP, the battlelines have been drawn given the strong line taken by former prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee in the capital on Saturday.

Speaking to party workers ahead of a week-long campaign to protest the arrest of the elder and the younger Kanchi Shankaracharyas, Vajpayee warned the Tamil Nadu government that the BJP is ready for a “long but peaceful struggle'' to prevent a takeover.

“There is an attempt that is on to control the mutt,'' he said. “We hope it (state government) will not commit such a stupidity but if it is determined to go this way then we will launch a peaceful protest. We are ready for a long struggle.''

Calling it a conspiracy and a challenge to society, Vajpayee referred to Sankranti and said: “The direction and condition of the country will change as the sun changes its direction after Sankranti,'' he said, and added that the BJP would not allow the two Shankaracharyas to languish in jail.

He said that the Kanchi mutt was not just any mutt and that it had been established by Adi Shankaracharya. He said that if there was something amiss with the management of the mutt then it could be “reformed”.