Two unconnected events, this past week, raise questions about the state of today’s society and polity. One is Sri Sathya Sai Baba calling on Karunanidhi at his residence and the other is the IT raids on Vijayakanth’s premises. And both happenings prove beyond doubt the pull and predominance of political power over all other facets of life.
First to the spiritual issue, with due deference. Should Baba have crossed the great dravidian divide and sought out the atheistic CM of TN, who till date has been bad mouthing Hindu deities and practices? Again, should the CM, who misses no opportunity to tom tom his rationalist credentials, have entertained the Baba at his residence? The questions haunt the devout and the disbelievers alike.
For the rational co-borns, fed on a diet of anti-Hindu rhetoric, this was a bolt from the black and red. They had, all these decades, swallowed every word of their leader in absolute rational faith and now it looks those ideas have no takers in the CM’s own home! They have to now swallow their self-respect, what with the entire first family touching ground zero in absolute reverence to the visiting swamy. And with Baba ‘materialising’ a couple of gold rings for the benefit of two ‘rational’ ministers, the gathering was again floored, so to speak! The final rational punch was delivered by the ultimate rationalist himself when he invoked the Buddha to explain the yellow streak on his shoulders. But we thought the Buddha gave up power and pelf to seek truth. Looks topsy turvy here. So what next? A family fast on Sivarathiri or Ekadasi? And a red turban, in memory of Guru Gobind Singh?
But we always knew that their iconoclastic claims were a farce, confined just to TN. But Baba’s sweep goes much beyond all that. So,what’s wrong with the visit, one may ask. Probably nothing, but it is certainly odd. While Saivite or Vaishnavite Acharyas and spiritual gurus visit houses and even business premises of their devotees on invitation, Baba has only had VIPs including Presidents and PMs calling on him. Small wonder, guesses are rife as to the compulsions behind Baba making an exemption now. Again, with Baba’s carefully cultivated image of being scarce, devotees throng his abode in lakhs just for a darshan which itself is deemed a blessing. That Baba should, instead, bestow his wholesome vision DTH on someone so devoted to denying, defying and even defiling piety is therefore both puzzling and painful to them. Of course, the faithful may take it in their stride in a spirit of Baba knows best. But our prodigal politico, some feel, has certainly made the halo slip a bit! And worse, he has elevated himself to draw level with Baba!
On one such earlier occasion, objections were raised when Karnataka CM Gundu Rao began courting and cosying up to Baba. At that time, Baba was reported to have said that it does not matter so long as there is at least a 1% change in the CM. The current circumstances, if anything, are more dire, with TN reeling under a State sponsored assault on Hindu religiosity. Indeed we are keen to know the percentage change in K’s disposition that Baba has engineered. Is there going to be a let up in his ugly utterances and will Periyar statues henceforth maintain a rational distance from the deities the bearded oracle so detested? Indeed, if the TN CM was so exalted a person that he deserved the Baba’s heart as gift, why not then ask his all-powerful secular government to relieve the Temples and their lands from the stranglehold of HR&CE, something all Hindu religious heads have been clamouring for decades? Indeed there are scores of ‘pious’ deeds that Baba can make K do!
All this is said not to belittle the Baba in any way. Indeed, the services rendered by his institutions not just in education and health, but in implementing public projects are pioneering. The fact that two State governments are now ready to outsource welfare measures and public utility schemes that they are supposed to implement, is proof of the pudding. Such corporate efficiency in social organisations is rare. Also, with increasing institutionalising of spiritual activity so as to serve humanity in a modern milieu, a brush with officialdom also becomes inevitable. Yet, the open dalliance with dubious, often devious, politicos is a bit unnerving. Just a couple of years back, a major religious institution paid a heavy price for its proximity to power centres. The Hindu community can ill afford a repeat. Sure, we trust our spiritual gurus. But we distrust our scandalous leaders even more!
Descending from the spiritual world to the material and mundane realms of Income Tax, the recent raids at the premises of Vijayakanth, is a blatant display of political bullying. Pray, why were several other colleges spared such State visits? If it were just routine searches, why then the ministerial press conferences and IT department press releases about the seizure that are normally not forthcoming during other raids? Surely, whatever was seized was not ill-gotten wealth but one earned in a proper way and that could be legitimased by lawful payment of taxes. Can the same be said of the loot lying with the politicos, which is both illegal and immoral? In any case, Vijayakanth is yet to have a stint at power to have amassed that kind of wealth. Really, it is a sick practical joke by the IT to be raiding cinestars, businessmen and other vulnerable targets, when much of the black economy is actually thriving gloriously right under their noses … with their own political bosses. Sincere apologies for sounding like Vijayakanth on screen!
Aah, but what can heroes do when even deemed gods are at risk in the face of raw political power.
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