Memories of H.H Swami Sathyananda Saraswati, an unapologetic warrior-saint of Kerala who fearlessly fought for the Hindu cause, continue to give nightmares to wily Hindu baitors even a decade and a half after his 'samadhi'. It is the flux in contemporary Kerala politics in the wake of the rise of the BJP which has brought him back to the attention.
Kerala's highfalutin pseudo-political pundits who have been searching for the cause of the rise of Hindutva here have finally found that the seer's 'divisive' teachings are inspiring a political change in the state.
When Swami Sathyananda Saraswati became vibrant in the public life of Kerala in early 1980s, the state's socio-economic spheres and cultural landscape were under the stranglehold of cabals from minority communities. They also controlled the public discourse along with Communists. The seer organised Hindus and challenged their hegemony; The Nilakkal agitation of 1983 against building a Church on a disputed piece of land considered to be a part of Lord Ayyappa's Poonkavanam (holy garden), was a turning point in the Swami's social interventions. Soon he became a creative disrupter in Kerala society and often crossed the rubicon drawn by Hinduphobic groups and challenged and defeated their machinations.
When a demoralised Hindu society which used to surrender without a fight began putting up extraordinary resistances under the leadership of Satyananda Saraswathi, vested interest groups were taken aback. They retaliated by spewing venom against the seer, accusing him of communalising Hindus, esp those at Thiruvananthapuram and causing irreparable damage to the secular cause. Such attacks on the seer continue to the present times.
Brading Swami as a hate monger
The latest among such attacks is an article in the portal of the media Malayala Manorama. Trying desperately to fix the reason for the rise of the BJP, at Nemom assembly constituency, the self proclaimed spinmeister of Congress homes in on the seer. Manorama spins a malicious conspiracy theory that the seer preached hate against Christians and Muslims in and around Nemom, influencing the minds of Nairs who are dominant there. The media concludes that it was the seer who paved the way for the rise of the BJP and his rabid hate speeches had put even hardcore RSS leaders to shame.
Is there any truth in the charges raised by Manorama against Swami Sathyananda Saraswati? Was he the hate monger who communalised Kerala politics? Absolutely not. The saint had never been a hate monger as the media portrays. His admirers and disciples included people from all religious and political backgrounds. A former Muslim MLA of the Congress from Thiruvananthapuram and a former articulate MP of the party who won from Kollam Lok Sabha constituency had been regular visitors to his ashram at Chenkottukonam. As the media itself says CPM leaders were also attracted to him. Would they have gone there if the seer had been a bigot?
The seer who dared to fight back
While firmly rooted in Hindu Dharma, Satyananda Saraswathi showed great respect to all religions. It was his integrity that attracted the rank and file, including Muslims and Christians. Though he was uncompromising when fighting injustices against Hindu dharma, he never had a double face or practised any kind of discrimination.
The ordinary Christians and Muslims in Kerala were never against Sathyananda Saraswati. But there were cliques in those religions who considered him as a thorn in their flesh. The reason was his unwillingness to take their insults against Hinduism lying down. Hinduphobic groups not just wanted to undermine Hindu cause, but also wanted to control the social response. While they considered it their right to hit below the belt, their opponents had to play according to the rules. That was how they preempted all resistances against them and Sathyananda Saraswati realised their tactics and paid back in their own coin.
Whenever vested interest groups tried to usurp the wealth of temples including Sabarimala, he opposed tooth and nail. He caught the Hinduphobic groups unawares by his honesty, straight talk, commitment and willingness to go to any extent to fight them. He never shied away from calling a spade a spade and spoke out against those who thought encroaching temple property was a piece of cake and projected it as a secular act. With their money power and political muscle they expected a walkover, but the seer forced them to capitulate.
The seer inspired self respect but never preached hate. But his intolerant critics misinterpret self-repect as communal Hindutva. They spread calumny to suppress the truth and prevent Hindus from becoming self confident.
Communalisation of Kerala politics
Sathyananda Saraswati did criticise politicians who endangered the Hindu cause but never communalised politics. He never pressurised political partiles to nominate his minions candidates in polls unlike the present day Chrisitan Church or Islamist groups who demand Lok Sabha and assembly seats. The fact is it was certin cliques in Christian Church and the Muslim League which communalised Kerala politics right from the days of Vimochana Samaram (Liberation Struggle). In Kerala's realpolitik speaking out for Hindu culture is communalism and the unquestioning and outright approval of religious and temporal interests of power brokers from the minorities is secularism.
Sathyananda Saraswati had the courage to call out such fake notions. He tore away the pretensions of Communism and revealed its inner contradictions where leaders enjoy a luxurious life leaving the cadres to toil. When he blasted the intolerance of a section of preachers of Christianity and Islam and the humbug of seuclarism, crowds milled around him. He crisscrossed Kerala and founded Hindu Aikya Vedi in the state to unite all Hindu castes; went to North America including the US, and Europe; united the Kerala Hindu diaspora, and popularised Hinduism among locals too.
When the agitation for reclaiming Ram Janmabhoomi began, he joined it and became the executive committee member of Ram Janmabhoomi Nyas Manch. Among the politically correct social and religious leaders of Kerala, Sathyanana Saraswati charted a different course by speaking and doing what he thought was right. If the left and the Congress are dissipating in Kerala it is because of the corruption and lack of democracy in those parties. Blaming Sathyananda Saraswathi won't help.
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