THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, January 2: Communist Party of India (CPI) State secretary P K Vasudevan Nair today alleged that there was an organised attempt by the Rashtriya Swayam Sevak Sangh-Bharatiya Janata Party (RSS-BJP) combine to foment trouble in Sivagiri and politically exploit the situation.In a statement here, he said the main purpose of L K Advani's recent visit to Kerala was to meet Swami Prakasananda, who was on a fast in front of the Secretariat in protest against the government takeover of the Sree Narayana Dharma Sanghom Mutt at Sivagiri and its affiliated institutions. With Advani's visit, the reins of the agitation had been completely taken over by the RSS-BJP combine, Nair said.
Vasudevan Nair asked how it could claim the legacy of Sree Narayana Guru when the ideology of RSS-BJP had nothing in common with Guru's ideals. He said that earlier, there had been allegations that the BJP-RSS leaders were trying to gain control over the Mutt using a section of the sanyasis. The recent incidents
had proved them true he added.The fight among sanyasis was not born out of any desire to protect the values of Guru but to safeguard narrow personal interests, he said. In such a situation, aligning with any of the feuding parties could only exacerbate the problem, he added.
It was unfortunate that a section of eminent personalities including Nitya Chaitanya Yati was supporting the Sivagiri agitation along with the RSS and BJP he said.
Vasudevan Nair also criticised Yati for having supported the agitation organised by a section of the sanyasis. He requested Yati to cooperate with the Sivagiri advisory council headed by Sukumar Azhikode to bring about an early settlement of the issue.
He said the government wanted to hand over Sivagiri as early as possible and criticism of violation of the freedom of worship were hurled with an ulterior motive.
He urged the swamis of both factions to stop the criticism and come forward to re-establish peace at Sivagiri. He also urged Swami
Prakasanda to end the ongoing fast.
Meanwhile, former Karnataka minister Vasanth Salian today condemned the filing of a suicide attempt case by the Kerala Government against Swami Prakashananda.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
