India: Politics of Piety - Let the law take its course in the Kanchi case (edit., TOI)

[ The Times of India - November 15, 2004 | Editorial ]

Politics of Piety

Let the law take its course in the Kanchi case

As disquieting the arrest of the Shankaracharya of the Kanchi Kamakoti Peetam, Sri Jayendra Saraswati, is, it is disturbing to see political outfits like the sangh parivar jump the gun and politicise the issue. The VHP has called for a bandh in Tamil Nadu and its working president Ashok Singhal has described the arrest as "a grave attack on Hindu community as the destruction of Somnath temple centuries ago". The Shankaracharya, better known for his attempts to play mediator in the Ayodhya dispute, was arrested by a team of Tamil Nadu police in Mahbubnagar in Andhra Pradesh on Diwali eve. He has since been produced in a court in Kancheepuram and remanded to judicial custody for 15 days. Meanwhile, the Madras high court has adjourned his bail application until Wednesday. The seer has been accused by the police as prime suspect in the murder of a former accountant of the Kanchi peeth. The deceased who had accused the Shankaracharya of money laundering and later moved court to prevent him from travelling abroad on the premise that Hindu rites did not allow so, was stabbed to death by miscreants in September this year. The police claim that two of the 14 persons arrested in the case pointed to Saraswati's 'direct involvement' in the case. The public prosecutor told the court that there was clinching evidence that favoured the arrest of the seer.

The merits of the case are beyond the purview of this editorial; that is best left to the courts. But, as we have argued in these columns, politicians should stop mixing religion and politics. The political class should refrain from confusing the individual with the institution. To paint the arrest as an "attack on the Hindu community" does little justice to the community and goes against the spirit of the law. The arrest of the seer needs to be delinked from the institution he represents. No doubt, he needs to be allowed every recourse to law and rights guaranteed by the Constitution as a citizen of India, but no more. The likes of the sangh parivar could take the cue from Tamil Nadu where the main opposition party, the DMK, has stood by the decision of the state police. This country has paid enough in blood and tears for communalising law and order issues. Let the law take its course. And the agencies responsible for it be allowed a free hand to ensure that justice is delivered in letter and spirit.