V S Achuthanandan
(Opposition Leader)
The Renaissance history of Kerala shares an indivisible link with the life and vision of Sree Narayana Guru. The Renaissance Movement and the Communist-Left socio-political struggles shaped Kerala’s present-day society.
It was towards the end of the 19th century and during the initial decades of the 20th century that Guru aroused Kerala from its socio-political stupor with his radical thoughts and way of life. During his period, Kerala was not what it was today, either in shape or character. It comprised three separate regions - Travancore, Kochi and Malabar - each with its different sets of living and ritualistic norms.
Travancore and Kochi were under the direct rule of the Royals, while Malabar was part of the erstwhile Madras state. The public used to bear the brunt of the autocratic rule of the Royals and the Diwan administration. The ordinary people, including the farmers and the labourers, were exploited not only by the ruling class but also by the upper class and the rich. It was a period when caste and religious customs and practices like untouchability were at its peak. Untouchability was not just between the ‘Savarnas’ and ‘the Avarnas’ - Untouchability was practised among people belonging to sub-castes within the same community. That’s why Swami Vivekananda termed Kerala ‘a mad house’.
It’s against this backdrop that we should examine the unethical and dangerous aspects of the SNDP leadership attempting to surrender an organisation inspired by Sree Narayana Guru before the Sangh Parivar forces.
Ironically, the Guru’s spiritual vision of an egalitarian community is being surrendered to strengthen the trends which seek to ambush it. And that too by those who have taken on the mantle of upholding Guru’s vision.
It’s not the first time such a liaison is being worked out between the rich handling the SNDP Yogam leadership and the Sangh Parivar forces.
Yogam supremo Vellappally Natesan had made an effort to forge close ties with the Sangh Parivar in 2003 too, when the Centre was under BJP rule. It was Murali Manohar Joshy, the then HRD Minister in the Vajpayee Ministry, who inaugurated the Sree Narayana Global Meet in Kochi in May 2003. BJP was the only political party invited by the SNDP for the meet. It should be read along with the fact that the Sanyasis from Sivagiri Math were conspicuous by their absence.
In his speech, Joshy had said Sree Narayana Guru has inspired the BJP and RSS and that Guru was commemorated during the RSS’ morning prayer. It was Guru’s visions spurning the roots of caste-and-communal thoughts that took Kerala to the vast skies of secularism. How can this be juxtaposed with the narrow interests of the Sangh? Only Natesan and his team can answer this question.
Vellappally’s political gimmicks are repeated after a dozen years. His efforts to associate with the Modi-Amit Shah-Togadia triumvirate are all pointers to score in the political front. His flimsy argument that since Modi, Amit Shah and Togadia are key decision-makers at the Centre, there’s nothing wrong in forging a bond, sounds poor. As an individual, Natesan can rejoice about the unholy association. But in the name of SNDP as a whole, believers in democracy have no option but to intervene. Vellappally owes an explanation at least to the community how a rigid Hindutva and caste-oriented agenda can go hand-in-hand with the Guru’s noble vision of a caste-less and harmonious society.
What prompts him for such a suicidal move? That’s where ‘Crony Capitalism’ comes into play. The underlying message by Vellappally has made it clear that all of them come under the same religious canvas, when it comes to financial interests.
The innumerable poor families in the SNDP Yogam will definitely not be the beneficiaries of the SNDP’s association with the Sangh Parivar. History stands witness to the disapproval of a resolution against the rulers by the then SNDP leadership at a Yogam meeting held in Alappuzha during the British rule. Proximity to their British masters needed to be maintained to uphold their vested interests. Vellappally happens to be the current SNDP avatar of bigoted political moves.
Such a move will orphan not just the organisation, but bury alive the visions of a great leader of Renaissance.
His ideologies are being surrendered before the same forces against which the Guru fought. The Guru had inspired the setting up of the Sadhujanaparipalana Sangham of Ayyankali and Valasamudaya Parishkarini Sabha of Pandit Karupan. Through his political conniving with the Sangh Parivar, Natesan is attempting to mutilate the wings of major societal changes that were triggered by these organisations. It’s high time Kerala wakes up to such a dangerous socio-political reality.