Volume 6, No. 2, February 2005

The sensational political developments in Tamilnadu in the last few months and the response from the broad masses surprised many in other parts of India. The brutal murder of Veerappan, who was characterized as a dreaded killer by the media received a jolt by seeing the spontaneous sympathy from the masses. Next, when Sankarachari, the pontiff of the one thousand year old famous Hindu mutt, was arrested, it was expected that it would create a widespread opposition and condemnation. On the contrary it was celebrated by the people, except for a miniscule of saffron bands and a section of Brahmins. This was a rude shock for the Hindutva fascists and the pro-brahminical media.

More than this shock, many could not believe when Jayalalitha, who was considered as a proponent of hindutva fascism, ordered the arrest of Jayendra and consistently refused to release him on bail. Further, her govt started to dig out other crimes committed by the Mutt. Jayalalitha, after her party captured the power for the second time in TN, openly identified herself as the supporter of Hindutva and her relations with mutt became very close. Sankarachari Jayendra’s role was clearly visible in her Hindu revivalist and fascist measures. Jayendra has acted as a "Rajaguru" of the Jayalalitha govt. To be more precise, the Jaya govt has provided all necessary protection for the criminal activities of the Sankara mutt. When Radhakrishnan, a colleague of the deceased Sankararaman and the auditor of the Sankara mutt was attacked two years back, the media exposed that the Sankara mutt is behind this murderous attack. But the Jayalalitha govt did not take any action. It confined itself to book a formal case on the incident. Radhakrishnan was also attacked for exposing the criminal activities of the mutt. Just four months before the killing of Sankararaman there was another attack on a Vaishnava priest Madhavan. He opposed the interference of Jayendra in the affair of Thirupati Devasthanam and other Vaishnava temples. He filed a case in the High court against Jayendra. The Jayalalitha govt did not even file a FIR on this attack. And, many such incidents can be quoted on the support provided by the Jaya govt for the criminal activities of the mutt. So it was natural when doubts are raised on the sudden ‘wisdom’ of Jayalalitha and ‘treating’ every one as equal according to the law! Before going into these details let us look into some more information on the Sankara mutt.

The saffron gangsters are shouting that "a great Sage Sankaracharya would not have committed such a murder"; "Sankara mutt has a holistic tradition". More over, there is an image cultivated systematically by the ruling classes that "the Sages and Pontiffs are different from the common man, selfless great men, continence, scarifying their pleasure for the sake of mankind and religion". Today, the sangh parivar gangsters are trying to fool the people by propagating such an ‘image’ in defense of the Sakaracharya. But these mutts are pillars of feudalism protecting the status quo for hundreds of years. They own hundreds of thousands of acres of cultivable land exploiting and oppressing the peasantry. Under feudalism they were the advisors to the kings and acted as the power brokers. They upheld reactionary theories like Manusmriti, Brahminism, Karma and the chief proponents of casteism and patriarchy as social tenets. They were the ideological citadel of the feudal exploitation and oppression. They exploited and suppressed the toiling masses, similar to that of the kings and feudal lords and lived a luxurious life as pleasure seekers and debauchers. Under the guise of ‘sainthood’ they indulged in degenerate practices inside the ‘holy’ mutts. The feudal ruling classes, in turn, protected them from getting exposed and systematically nurtured the ‘holiness’ of these pontiffs. Even today there are many mutts like Thiruppanandal, Thiruva-duthurai, Madurai Aadinam in TN and many more all over India owning thousands of acres of land collecting rent from the poor tenants. Hence, the hue and cry by the hindutva fascists is nothing but an attempt to cover the reactionary role played by these ‘holy men’ in society.

When Sankararaman was murdered in last Sept, it was an undoubted fact accepted by everyone, except the police, that Jayendra and Vijayendra, the junior pontiff, had a role in the murder. Today, the ADMK govt, enacting a drama, said that it is going to investigate all the criminal activities of the mutt committed in the last forty years. Already the list of murders committed by the Sankara mutt is increasing day by day.

After 1947, the Sankara mutt in Kancheepuram, has been playing the role of a coordinating center and power brokers for the Brahminical comprodor bureaucratic bourgeoisie in TN. The brahminical comprodor bureaucratic capitalists, led by TVS, and the top bureaucrats like IAS & IPS officers, judges, top technocrats of the PSUs, are acting as pillars of the Sankara mutt. Other big capitalists are also maintaining good relationships with the mutt. At the all India level also, the mutt has been having political dealings. Big leaders of all political parties like Indira Gandhi, G.K.Mooppanar, R.V.Venkatraman, L.K.Advani, M.M.Joshi etc, are devotees of the mutt.

After Jayendra took over charge of the mutt, he brought some changes in the functioning of the mutt, according to the changes in the situation. The imperialist sponsored globalisation and the growth of hindu fascist political forces had its influence on the mutt. Today, it does not remain just a feudal institution, but a political center and power broker of the elite Brahmin community. On the one hand, it has become a big comprador bourgeois enterprise by expanding its activities to the service sector like education, health care and Hi-tech hospitals (Sankara Netralaya, Tamilnadu hospital, Women-Children Trust etc), and real estate business. It has become the safety lockers for the black money of NRIs. By utilizing this black money it has started many trusts. Today, the assets of the mutt are estimated at thousands of crores of rupees. This credit for transforming the Sankara mutt into a big bourgeois enterprise must definitely belong to the Jayendra-Vijayendra clique.

On the other hand, the growth of Hindu fascists brought the Kanchi mutt directly into politics. The RSS-Hindu Munnani combine organized "Sant Sammelan" was held under the leadership of Jayendra. He played the role of a political broker in materialising the alliance between the BJP & ADMK. After his fraudulent initiative in the Babri Masjid-Ram Janma Bhoomi dispute to deceive the Muslims got exposed, he started to threaten them directly. He made serious efforts to bring the Dalits into the fold of the Hindu fascists in TN. On the whole, the Jayendra-Vijaye-ndra clique converted the Kanchi mutt into a detachment of the saffron brigade.

In 2001, after winning the assembly election by forming a ‘secular’ alliance against the DMK led ‘communal’ alliance in TN, Jayalalitha openly identified herself with the Brahmin-Hindutva forces. Again, she re-established relations with the BJP under mediation from the Kanchi mutt. Poyas garden (the residence of Jayalalitha) and Kanchi mutt became hand in glove in all her endeavors. The Hindu-Brahminical Jayalalitha-Jayendra-Ramagopalan combine tried to convert TN into another Gujarat. The anti-conversion Bill, the Bill to prevent animal sacrifice in places of worship, renovation of temples at govt expense, free meal service at the temples, extending support for the construction of Ram temple in Ayodhya, supporting the butcher Narendra Modi govt in Gujarat and other such communal programmes were implemented rapidly by this alliance. Jayendra, with the help of the TN police, stealthily installed a statue inside the Sidda tradition temple at Palani. Jayendra was made chief of the temple renovation committee by the govt. Jayendra and the Sangh parivar gangsters organized meetings and conventions in support of the anti-conversion bill. These measures, aimed at strengthening hindutva-brahminical revivalism, enraged the progressive and secular democratic forces in Tamilnadu, which has a glorious tradition of struggle against the domination of brahminism. Those who opposed were threatened to be arrested under the draconian POTA.

The ADMK-BJP alliance formed with the blessings of Kanchi swamy Jayendra suffered its worst ever defeat in the last parliamentary elections. The BJP led NDA lost power at the Center also. The DMK, which became the main partner of the Congress alliance, made serious efforts to unseat the Jaya govt in TN. Under such a critical situation, in order to pacify the people’s anger against her govt and also to break the DMK led alliance, Jayalalitha retracted from many of her govt’s earlier decisions. Cancellation of all punishment of govt employees, re-introduction of PDS system to all, free electricity, free sari and dhoti to the poor, and other benefits, which were withdrawn by her just few months back, were implemented again. As part of this deception, she wants to show that her political alliance with saffron gang has snapped, she withdrew the ban on conversion, animal sacrifice at places of worship, and suddenly removed a statue installed by the Sankaracharya. In this political environment, the DMK led opposition parties announced a struggle to arrest the real culprits (Sakara mutt) in the murder of Sankararaman. At the same time, the quarrel in financial dealings between Jayalalitha and the Sankara mutt reached a flash point. By arresting Sankaracharya Jayendra, Jayalalitha aimed at achieving many things in a single stroke. One, she wants to clear the image that her govt is pro-hindutva and pro-brahmin; two, she wants to break the DMK led alliance by trying to bring few parties, including the Congress, into her alliance; three, she wants to settle scores with Jayendra and wants to teach a lesson to others that she will not spare anyone, however influential, in the battle for booty. In her battle for political survival and in the dogfight between the ruling classes, the arrest of Jayendra is part of a new tactic adopted by Jayalalitha. In fact, Jayalalitha is herself one of the big criminals of TN, who must be arrested along with Jayendra and other fascists for their criminal activities.

As has already been mentioned, the arrest of the Sankaracharya did not evoke any opposition from the masses of TN. Even then, the brahminical sections of the ruling class and the saffron goons were greatly worried about the crumbling of their symbol of domination and oppression. The struggles organized by the saffron combine of the RSS-BJP-Hindu Munnani, led by L.K.Advani, did not create even a ripple in TN. The BJP, while in power as well as in opposition, accused Civil liberties organizations as being supporter of terrorism, when they raised the question of human rights violations against the cold-blooded murder of revolutionaries and other militants in so-called encounters with the police and Indian army; and now this same scum that in fact enacted the draconian POTA have got completely exposed for their hypocrisy in raising the so-called human rights violation in the arrest of the Sankaracharya. None supported their neo Manu code, which demands that the religious (hindu brahminical) heads should be kept outside the purview of criminal charges. the BJP’s position in TN is like choosing between the frying pan and the fire. On the one hand, it has isolated itself further from the people of TN of even its meager support that it had; on the other it could not condemn and confront Jayal-alitha, the only hope for their party in TN.

Even though the Dravidian and revisionist parties supported the arrest of Jayendra, they got exposed by demanding that the Sankara mutt should be protected. The anti-brahmin mask of M.Karunanidhi, the DMK president, was torn into pieces when he accused the police for its "excesses" in the arrest of Jayendra. The revisionists, true to their dual nature, while supporting the arrest, opposed the way in which the Sankaracharya was ‘treated’. The staunch supporter of the CPM and the ‘progressive’ editor of "The Hindu", N.Ram, escorted the junior pontiff Vijayendra from the TN border after the arrest of the Sankaracharya. Although the Dravidian and revisionist parties supported the arrest of Sankaracharya, due to their class interests, they wanted to protect the Sankara mutt.

Some organizations in the ML camp, some Tamil nationalist forces and Periyarists (supporters of EVR.Periyar) supported the arrest and organized some protest programmes demanding the closure of the Sakara mutt. Even here, there was a trend extending uncritical support to the fascist Jayalalitha in the name of opposition to the hindutva forces and the Sankara mutt. They put forward a strange argument that criticizing Jayalalitha’s ulterior motives would weaken the charges against the Sankaracharya. It is correct to isolate the hindutva fascists and the demand for the closure of the sankara mutt. But if we fail to expose the real motives behind the arrest, it is nothing but contributing to illusions on her, a worst type of fascist. It is necess-ary to unmask the progressive guise of Jay-alalitha while isolating the hindutva forces and the Sankara mutt. The fraudulent stand of the UPA parties also must be exposed.

Only when all forces — the revolutionary forces, national liberation organizations, genuine Periyarists and other democratic forces — who are opposing hindu fascism consistently, wage an united struggle, the people will think about the alternative to the ruling class parties. Only then can they understand the real nature and motives of the saffron gangsters and the ruling class parties. There is need for the people of Tamilnadu, who have a glorious tradition of self-respect, of a rationalist movement, and a history of struggle against the brahminical order, to mobilize and wage a militant struggle against the Sankara mutt and the hindu fascist forces and defeat their nefarious designs. This struggle against these forces can be advanced victoriously only when it was coordinated with the armed agrarian revolution aimed at destroying the semi-colonial semi-feudal social system under the slogan of "Land to the tiller! Power to the people!"

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