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Shankaracharya and Subramanian Swamy Criticise Modi

– Mohammed Atherulla Shariff

If there was a strong justice system, Modi-Yogi would have been in jail, said Shankaracharya Nischalanand Saraswati. BJP leader Subramanian Swamy agreed with the Shankaracharya’s statement and called him ‘the fearless Jagatguru’.

Shankaracharya Nischalananda Saraswati, on Tuesday, speaking to media persons after attending the Dharmasabha of Shri Mahakaleshwar Temple Management Committee in Ujjain, slammed Prime Minister Narendra Modi and UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. He said that if India had a strong judicial system, Modi and Yogi would be in jail.

BJP leader Subramanian Swamy, agreeing with the Shankaracharya’s statement, called him ‘the fearless Jagatguru’. Dr. Swamy has attacked the Modi government on multiple occasions. In November, Swamy called Modi a ‘liar’ and said that he would atone for campaigning for Modi in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.

Nischalananda Saraswati is the 145th Jagadguru Shankaracharya of the Purvamnaya Sri Govardhana Peetham of Puri, Odisha. Born as Neelambar Jha in a Maithil Brahmin family in Madhubani in 1943, Shri Nischalananda Saraswati is the son of the raj-Pandita of Maharaja of Darbhanga.

The journal of Citizens for Justice and Peace (CJP) mentions about Nischalananda as follows: “Notorious for his demand that India be declared a Hindu Rashtra, Swami Nischalananda Saraswati is an influential figure as he holds the title of the 145th Jagadguru Shankaracharya of the Purvamnaya Govardhana Peetham of Puri. However, his words are hardly saint-like, given his calls for reinstatement of the caste system, and rejection of the concept of gender equality, relegating women to the status of second-class citizens.”

Every once in a while, Saraswati makes headlines for right-wing mouthpieces with announcements of ‘protecting’ Hindus from ‘jihad attacks’. On May 3, 2022, Sudarshan News talked about how Saraswati will publicly resolve to turn India into a ‘Hindu Rashtra”. Though the Govardhan Math itself called the event Prakatyotsav to celebrate the birth anniversary of the Shankaracharya. Still, his views regarding Hindu-Muslim interaction are not a mystery. Saraswati, along with three fellow gurus, have repeatedly stressed the ‘need’ to “proclaim and affirm a resolution” that India be turned into a “Hindu state”.

During an event in Raipur in February 2022, Dainik Bhaskar quoted him as saying, “I was speaking in Kanpur once. I did not know that some Muslims were also sitting there. I said that there should be welfare of the world. They were surprised to hear this because they never think like this… They think Hindus should be divided.” This was clearly an attempt to defame Muslims.

Similarly, a month before this, he attended a Sant Sammellan to discuss ways to “counter Islamic jihad” and “help create a Hindu nation”. The organisers of this event were the same people who had organised the Dharm Sansad in December 2021. However, Saraswati’s communal convictions run deeper.

Even during anti-CAA and NRC-NPR protests, the Jagadguru made the same demand for a religion-based nation. In 2020, Hindustan Times reported how Saraswati told reports that there was no country for Hindus although many countries are declared as Muslim and Christian nations. He claimed that it was the responsibility of the United Nations to declare India, Nepal and Bhutan as Hindu nations.

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