Thiruvananthapuram Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have crossed swords over the legacy of social reformer Sree Narayana Guru.
C.PI(M) State secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan has triggered the debate by slamming Prime Minister Narendra Modi for ‘‘attempting to saffronise’’ the Guru’s fiercely secular and strongly humanist intellectual bequest to society. Mr. Modi tried to distort the Guru's teachings and depict him as a Hindu saint. His take on the ascetic at the inauguration of the 90th anniversary year of the Sivagiri pilgrimage in New Delhi was "curious and dangerous".
The Guru stressed social and political emancipation through enterprise and education. He dabbled in spirituality. But, importantly, he acknowledged the role of materialism in improving the quality of life of the common man. His ardent disciplines included atheists and rationalists of Sahodaran Ayyappan's ilk., he said
The Guru was anything but a Hindu saint. Mr. Modi used the iconography of Hindu deities as a rallying call for Hindutva forces. "Now he seeks to supplant Ram and Hanuman with the Guru in a revisionist Hindu saint's garb, " Mr. Balakrishnan said., adding Mr. Modi hoped to turn Sivagiri into an epi centre of divisive Hindu majoritarian thought. However, the Left Democratic Front (LDF) would resist the move to saffronise Sivagiri. The Sangh Parivar philosophy of "hounding and othering" Muslims, minorities, backward classes and Dalits goest against the guru's teachings.
BJP State president K. Surendran said the CPI (M) had no moral right to invoke the Guru's name. Party leaders from E.M.S. Naboodiripad to the incumbent leadership had disparaged the Guru and trivialised his teachings and social impact. The CPI(M) had even termed him a "bourgeoise".
Mr. Balakrishnan was upset that Mr. Modi and the BJP had accorded paramount respect to Sivagiri and its seer. The CPI(M) had used the Guru and his storied renaissance movement as a foil to insulate itself from the public wrath that ensued in the wake of the Sabarimala issue. It had staged an “outrageous” tableau showing the Guru nailed to a cross. “Sree Narayana is a Hindu saint,” he claimed.
