The Kanchi Mutt Takeover: A Sinister Development*

By Krishnan S. Chittur, Esq.

Unscrupulous politicians have always salivated at the prospect of getting their hands on cash rich temples. But TN supremo Jayalalitha's vicious attacks on the Sankaracharya to cover her lunge at the Kanchi Mutt's kitty open new vistas in abusive government intervention. Combined with her aeration of caste-based hatred at a time that the very legitimacy of legal and political institutions in India is being increasingly questioned by the common man, this is an alarming invitation to instability.

Reforming deep-rooted religious practices unacceptable in contemporary times is a recurring challenge in traditional societies. In India too, government intervention in religious institutions came at first for idealistic reasons, to eradicate social evils that plagued Hindu society; the various temple entry statutes are ready examples. Faced with the necessity to reconcile such intervention with the constitutional guarantee of freedom of religion, the Indian response was bold and unique: Matters that were an integral part of religion were beyond governmental reach, while temporal and administrative affairs were not.

This dichotomy opened the road to intervention for operational reform. Indisputably, most Indian temples and religious institutions were pathetically lacking in transparency and accountability. The mammoth size of these institutions, the huge revenues collected in cash, and the enormous number of service and supply contracts incidental to temple operations cried out for systemic overhaul. Many temples were themselves as large as local governments. But no democratic controls existed, and secrecy under the garb of religion kept mismanagement and scandals hidden. But the necessity for reform was clear. Brazen incidents such as the theft of the centuries-old jewelry from the Kashi Vishwanath temple compelled (or gave the cover for) intervention.

Soon, major religious institutions such as Guruvayoor, Tirupathi Balaji, and Vaishno Devi shrine, came under governmental supervision, with civil servants or politicians on their boards. This fig leaf of spineless IAS officers gave politicians access to the temple kitty, even where the politicians were not trustees themselves. Temples also became fertile sources for corruption, nepotism, and patronage.

This diversion of income from "religious" crooks to political crooks didn't mean much for the common man. And if Jayalalitha had stopped there, that would not have been so much of a cause for concern; we're used to that! But by leveling obviously phoney charges on the "Hindu Pope" and orchestrating a brazen assault on the Mutt, she has fanned the flames of inter-caste antagonism with stunning irresponsibility.

The seriousness of a murder charge calls for careful scrutiny of the underlying evidence before any arrest. And when that charge is against the head of a religious institution with impeccable credentials dating back to 2,500 years, the best brains should be paying meticulous attention to the minutest details. Instead, Jayalalitha - who, after all, came from the tinsel world - set to work with what appears more akin to a cheap Indian movie plot. You simply had to suspend disbelief.

After arresting the seer with full drama, complete with midnight flights, special commandos, and, of course, television cameras, Jayalalitha's police came up with concoctions du jour, just to survive one more court appearance. Every new concoction fell at the subsequent court hearing. Finally, all that was left before the Supreme Court - 5 months after the murder - were the alleged "confessions" of two alleged hirelings made after several days of police "interrogation." That, as everyone knows, is Indiaspeak for torture, standard police technique to get people confess to otherwise unsolved crimes. Not surprisingly, one "confessor" implicating the seer retracted his "confession" just five days after allegedly making it. Her police even claimed in the Supreme Court that two unidentified strangers had "heard" the seer ordering the murder (is he that stupid?). After an antiseptic analysis, the Supreme Court found "no worthwhile prima facie evidence" and ordered bail.

Jayalalitha's reaction was furious and swift. First, in the time-honored way of Indian politicians, she transferred the officers involved. Second, she sent truckloads of policemen to desecrate the Mutt and arrest the junior seer on the very same charges, citing another "confession" by the same hireling who had earlier "confessed" against the seer. And third, she also requested the Supreme Court to ban the seer from "anywhere in South India" (not just Tamil Nadu) because he would "influence and threaten" witnesses, and "his presence would dampen their spirits," unmistakably equating the seer with mafia dons. By the way, what exactly were her police doing while they held him behind bars for 60 days, other than thrashing the daylights out of other accused for a "confession"?

Meanwhile, she systematically immobilized the senior management of the Mutt. Had the seer's brother and twelve others arrested under the Goondas Act, a preventive detention statute (so she didn't have to justify those arrests in court). Charged the Mutt accountant with offenses that even the judge found incomprehensible. And the remaining guys? Charged with being "co-conspirators!"

Then came the real reason: never mind what she had said earlier, she wanted to takeover the Mutt which, with its affiliates, controls 209 welfare centers, 43 hospitals and healthcare centers, 110 associated mutts and community centers, 15 Vedic education institutions, one deemed university, and 11 higher educational institutions. Lots of cash, and patronage opportunities. Meanwhile, she froze all 183 bank accounts of these entities, although she did not even allege any financial improprieties: the Mutt's accounts are professionally audited, and annual financial statements filed regularly with the Central and State governments.

With this frontal assault on a bastion of Hinduism, the anti-Brahmin vitriol that has been endemic to Tamil Nadu politics for decades spewed out in torrents. Certainly, her uncanny political instincts paid off in this sense: Public attention was promptly diverted from the outrage she perpetrated, and from her extending hand to the Mutt's coffers. Every malicious gossip gained widespread media coverage, chipping away at the 2,500-year-old Mutt's credibility and standing. And an edited version of the videotape of the seer's police "interrogation" found its way into a TV broadcast, never mind her blithe assertion that no copies existed and the original videotape was under seal in the local court. We saw some of the yellowest days in Indian journalism.

As Justice Narasimha Reddy of the Andhra Pradesh High Court observed while dismissing a writ petition which dragged in the seer by the hair in a case involving alleged infraction of labor laws by the seer?s host in Andhra Pradesh,

The Sinister Significance

Jayalalitha's concerted attack on the seer is much more sinister than a politician's self-help to religious funds. The political and legal system in India has been losing credibility steadily over the past three decades. Hundreds of career criminals in the government and legislatures all over the country - Laloo Yadav of the multi-crore fodder scam is now a Union Minister - underscore the eroding credibility of the political system. The absence of any meaningful civil or criminal consequences to anyone in notorious riots (anti-Sikh of 1984, Ayodhya riots of 1992, Godhra of 2002, you name it), and the generation-long delays in courts reflect the legal system?s decadent irrelevance. Justice Reddy?s "barometer" is now giving a dangerous reading about the very fabric of Indian society.

In this background, the flames of hate she is so irresponsibly fanning to cover herself could easily become a conflagration. As history has repeatedly shown, when passions are set ablaze in the name of religion, no court, no law, and no police - certainly not the TN police who cringed for over a decade at the very name of Veerappan - can contain the inferno. With Jayalalitha's penchant for arrogant lawlessness, she obviously doesn't care. The real issue is where there is someone else in power who does.

*Abridged version published in "News India-Times," Mar. 4, 2005, at p. 2 ("On Kanchi Seer's Arrest:  Reforming deep-rooted religious practices is a challenge in traditional societies")