India: Rajasthan Ram katha: Minister and Governor play supporting roles

Indian Express
December 25, 2002

Rajasthan Ram katha: Minister and Governor play supporting roles
Murari Bapu star attraction in drought fundraiser; not Hindutva, says Minister; Governor says it’s for a good cause
MANOJ MITTA    
NEW DELHI, DECEMBER 24: Forget the Gujarat bitterness. In the name of raising funds for drought relief in Rajasthan, a senior Congress Minister in the Ashok Gehlot government has joined hands with the BJP-appointed Governor to hold a week-long Ram Katha in Jaipur.

Posters have appeared across the city featuring pictures of Governor Justice Anshuman Singh and Murari Bapu, a spiritual leader from Gujarat who will conduct the religious discourse from January 4 to 12.

Though he does not figure in any of the posters, Public Health and Engineering Minister C P Joshi told The Indian Express that he is ‘‘very much associated’’ with the programme because it is being organised by a body based in his constituency Nathdwara.

The organisers, Santkripa Sanatan Sansthan, are making arrangements on an ambitious scale expecting a daily attendance of over 1 lakh devotees. The district administration is also involved to ensure that the organisers make proper provisions for a crowd of that magnitude stretching over a week.

Governor Anshuman Singh, a former judge of the Allahabad high court, has not only called upon the public to make a success of Ram Katha, he has also announced that the donations made there will be transferred to the newly created Governor’s Relief Fund which in turn will be used to provide drought relief. The Governor has thus lent the weight of his office to what is seen by some as a purely religious function.

This has raised a controversy as several organisations like the People’s Union for Civil Liberties protested in writing to President A P J Abdul Kalam that Anshuman Singh was ‘‘using a constitutional post to promote a special brand of communal politics.’’

Anshuman Singh dismissed this allegation saying he got involved in the fundraiser only because two ministers of the Gehlot Government (whom he declined to name) sought his help to persuade Murari Bapu to conduct the Ram Katha.

‘‘It is on my request that Murari Bapu has kindly agreed to come,’’ Anshuman Singh told The Indian Express, adding that he took that opportunity to revive the Governor’s Relief Fund ‘‘for a good cause.’’

The Governor also clarified that ‘‘not a penny’’ has been spent from the exchequer for Ram Katha. As for the posters bearing his pictures, he said, ‘‘The Raj Bhawan has nothing to do with them.’’

Minister Joshi, on his part, denies that the programme is religious and says it is rather a charitable activity. ‘‘Ram Katha is just a form of communication. There is no reason for anybody to panic and see Hindutva in it,’’ Joshi said, adding that preparations have anyway been going on for it long before the Gujarat poll.

He stressed upon the fact that while he is personally involved in organising Ram Katha and has even been in touch with the Governor in this regard, ‘‘the Government as such has nothing to do with it.’’

The district collector, Sudhansh Pant, echoes the same view saying ‘‘the Government has no role.’’ He has however visited the venue and overseen the arrangements that were being made by the organisers because, as he says, it is his responsibility to see that all the necessary amenities (parking, toilets, fire-fighting, etc) were in place.