Karnataka Assembly Speaker Khader Freed’s love for a die-hard
Hindutva Guru Sri Sri Ravishankar
The 2023 Karnataka Assembly elections was a
mile-stone in the fight for saving Indian democracy from the Hindutva
onslaught. Congress defeated RSS-BJP convincingly. Though it was a State
election but the results had national ramifications. Karnataka had become the newest
Hindutva laboratory; the RSS-BJP campaigners used every dirty trick in the
Hindutva armoury of communal polarization to put a stamp of approval to the
rule of Basavaraj Bommai. Under him Karnataka had turned into a land out of
bound for Muslims, their beliefs and customs; lynching becoming a new normal. What
was at stake for PM Modi in this election can be known by the fact that he
asked for votes in the name of Bajrang Bali (Hanuman).
Congress could win because it boldly challenged
the Hindutva bigotry during election promising that it would ban organizations
like Bajrang Dal (RSS storm-troopers) and discard anti-minority laws passed by
the Bommai government including pro-Hindutva changes in the school text books.
Congress victory was ensured due to unwavering stand against Hindutva communal
polarizing campaign by the Congress top campaigners, including Mallikarjun Kharge, Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi, Siddarmaiah and
DK Shivakumar.
Sadly, UT
Khader Fareed, Speaker of
Karnataka Assembly, who won on Congress ticket, is showing no inclination to
defend this gain, on the contrary using his office to legitimize the Hindutva ideology.
He has invited a die-hard Hindutva Guru, Art
of Living’s founder Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, as a prominent resource person to
train the first time MLAs, numbering 70, in meditation and yoga therapy apart
from classes on the technicalities of law making.
Who
advised him to invite this Hindutva Baba who is not content with having one SRI
with his name but two? Egoism at galore! It is shocking that a senior Congress
leader from Karnataka is not familiar with anti-national and anti-humanity
background of this Baba. He has been a prominent speaker at almost all RSS
events. He is a die-hard believer in Casteism. If Speaker had even asked a
clerk in his office to search the Hindutva credentials of double SRI, the
former would have been provided with the following troubling facts.
Double SRI is an old
patron of Hindutva organizations like Hindu Janajagruti
Samiti
(HJS) an affiliate of Sanatan Sanstha. These organizations are being
investigated for assassinations of MM Kalburgi (a renowned thinker and critic
of Brahmanism, assassinated on August 30, 2017), Gauri Lankesh (a renowned
Lingayat author, journalist and activist, assassinated on September 5, 2017),
Govind Pansare (a noted Communist leader, historian, assassinated on February
20, 2015) and Narender Dabholkar (Great Rationalist and thinker, assassinated
on August 20, 2013). The first two belonged to Speaker’s own State.
How close and
old is the relationship of this double SRI with these organizations which are
being investigated for Hindutva terrorism can be known by the following
statement of Mumbai region Convener of HJS Shivaji Vatkar and Ramesh
Shinde, spokesperson of HJS for Maharashtra stated after meeting double
Sri on the 20th November (2006) in Mumbai:
“The founder of the 'Art of Living' Pujya Sri
Sri Ravi Shankar (Swamiji) has given his blessings to the activities of the Hindu
Janajagruti Samiti (HJS)…He conveyed His blessings. Swamiji further said
that He knew about the HJS' activities and appreciated the same. He also
said that, the HJS should continue to create awareness among the masses…Shri.
Shinde also informed Swamiji about the campaigns undertaken by the HJS against
the 'Anti-Superstition Act' and the 'Temple Takeover Act' with a view to make
the society aware of anti-Hindu activities being undertaken by the Maharashtra
Government. On this occasion, Swamiji was also shown sattvik pictures of
deities drawn by seekers of the Sanatan Sanstha.”
[‘Pujya Sri Sri Ravishankar blesses the HJS’, November 22, 2006,
https://www.hindujagruti.org/news/1233.html]
It is to be noted that apart from, as per
police investigations, being involved in assassinations of ‘anti-Hindu’
intellectuals HJS and Sanatan Sanstha have been involved in
aggressive campaigns for converting democratic-secular India into Hindu rashtra.
The theme of the yearly conferences is fixed; ‘All India Hindu Convention for
Establishment of Hindu Nation’. In 2013, the 2nd such conference
began with a felicitation message from Modi as CM of Gujarat. Double Sri could
not come to grace the conference but bestowed
his blessings by offering a yellow shawl to Shivaji Vatkar to be presented in
the said conference.
It
was at this conference that a senior RSS cadre, K.V. Sitaramiah, in his address declared that
Gandhi was ‘terrible, wicked and most sinful’. Rejoicing the killing of M.K.
Gandhi, he went on to declare:
“As Bhagwan Shri Krishna said in the Gita,
Paritranaya Sadhunam Vinashaya Cha Dushkritam/ Dharamasansthapnaya Sambhavami
Yuge-Yuge (For the protection of the good, for the destruction of the wicked
and for the establishment of righteousness, I am born in every age) On 30th
January 1948 evening, Shriram came in the form of Nathuram Godse and ended the
life of Gandhi.”
Double Sri’s modus operandi, operations, gimmicks and close connections
with RSS have been recorded by a renowned South Asia expert and journalist,
Edward Luce, in his amazing book, In Spite of the Gods: The Strange Rise of
Modern India, Doubleday, New York, 2007.
Narrating details of a meeting with him at his palatial ashram at
Bengaluru Luce stated:
“I had come to visit Sri Sri Ravi Shankar (not to be confused with
Ravi Shankar, the classical sitar player), who is perhaps the most prominent of
a new breed of highly successful Hindu evangelists, at his Art of Living
Foundation near Bangalore in south India. It was evening and hundreds of
devotees had already congregated for evening prayers. From close up, the
meditation hall was even more striking. Rising to five stories, it had been
built entirely from marble. The hall was shaped like a lotus. There were 1,008
marble petals covering the exterior of the building symbolizing the diversity
of human consciousness. It was only a few years old. The funding for this extravagant
construction had come from corporate donations-much of it from the software
companies in nearby Bangalore-and revenues the foundation earns from its hugely
popular course in breathing techniques and meditation. ‘Come inside,’ said the
polite young lady assigned to show me around. ‘You are just in time to watch
the guruji take
his evening questions.’”
“The interior was even more striking, fashioned like a Roman amphitheatre. We
sat on polished white marble steps looking down at the stage in the centre. I
felt like I had stepped inside a large wedding cake…Alone on the stage, on what
looked to be a large throne, sat a man in flowing white robes with an equally
flowing white robes with an equally flowing beard and silky locks of hair
falling luxuriantly around his shoulders. It looked as if Jesus were shooting a
shampoo advertisement. This was Sri Sri Ravi Shankar.”
Referring to Question-Answer session Luce wrote:
“There was some chanting and clashing of cymbals. Then the prayers ended and
a hush descended over the hall. It was time for guruji to
take questions. I, expecting people to ask about higher consciousness or
metaphysics. But the questions consisted mostly of mundane queries about how to
deal with recalcitrant teenagers, whether staying late in the office was a good
thing, and how to choose a marriage partner. The guruji spoke
in a quiet but sonorous voice. But his answers were more like those of an advice
columnist than a prophet…Someone asked about whether it was always wrong to pay
bribes. ‘You shouldn’t be too idealistic all the time,’ said the guruji.
‘Sometimes you have to make little, little compromises.’ Again the audience
erupted in laughter. I was beginning to wonder about the Art of Living’s
breathing techniques.
According to Luce double SRI was a fervent supporter of building of a Ram
Temple after demolishing Babri Mosque at Ayodhya:
“What is less widely known is the guruji’s close attachment to the RSS. He has shared platforms with VHP
leaders at public meetings. I asked him whether the Ram Temple should be built
in Ayodhya. ‘Suppose,’ he said, ‘that it was the birthplace of Jesus or
Mohammed. What would you have done? Would you have tolerated another structure
on that site? Let us build a temple to Ram and let the Muslims make this
gesture as an act of goodwill and then the temple will also belong to Allah and
to all Muslims.’ To Allah? I asked. ‘Yes, as you must have seen, we accept all
paths to God. Sometimes we wish other religions would do the same.’ The guruji’s words reminded me of Advani’s desire to see more ‘Hindu Muslims
and more ‘Hindu Christians’.”
Luce underlining the deep partnership between double SRI and RSS
shared an anecdote:
“A few weeks later received a telephone call from Ram Madhav, the
national spokesman of the RSS. ‘I am calling about Sri Sri Ravi Shankar,’ said
Madhav. ‘I was talking to him the other day and he said he was disappointed
with your article in the Financial Times. You only quoted his views on politics and the Shankaracharya. He
said he was hoping you would quote his views on tolerance and spiritualism.’ It
is true my article had lacked space to quote the guruji’s opinions on other matters. But I was surprised the guruji should have chosen the RSS—of all organizations—to convey
his complaint.”
It
is high time Congress leaders like Karnataka Speaker
Khader Fareed who are part of Hindutva sleeping cells in Congress are divested
of all responsibilities. The democratic-secular India is indebted to Karnataka
for being a barricade against the free run of the Hindutva bandwagon, let no
Fifth Columnist be allowed to demolish it.
Shamsul
Islam
June
30, 2023
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