THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala criticised the BJP-led dispensation at the Centre and the LDF Government in the state while remembering Sree Narayana Guru on his 165th birth anniversary on Friday. Inaugurating the Sree Narayana Visionary Meet organised at Chempazhanthy Gurukulam near here, Chennithala said religion is being placed above man in modern-day India, in an oblique reference to the BJP regime at the Centre.
“A scary social environment exists in our country as people are assessed, discriminated against and even eliminated in the name of religion,” Chennithala said. Firing a salvo at the LDF Government, Chennithala said those who utilise renaissance for their political gains have not understood the teachings of the Guru.
“When renaissance becomes a mere political activity, the social and spiritual dimensions of the Guru’s teachings are lost and it only becomes an attempt to attain power,” he said. Chennithala said the Guru, through his words ‘Whatever be the religion, let man be virtuous’, made the boldest secular statement. His words came a century ago when secularism was not even a topic of discussion, he added.
The Guru’s words on religion are seen as the foundation of liberalism and secularism even today. For him, religion was an idea that was placed a step below man, Chennithala said. “When the Guru says ‘Whatever be the religion’ he accepts the inevitability of religion. But when he adds ‘Let man be virtuous’ he conveys the position of man is above religion, he added.