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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