| Published on 23-01-2007 In National | | Viewed 3995 times | Written by R. Bhagwan Singh | | 'Buddham Saranam Gatchami,' Karunanidhi to Sai Baba |
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Drive through Chennai, the capital of the God-hating Dravidian rulers, you will find on one side of the crowded roads massive vinyl hoardings advertising the 'Athi Rudra Maha Yagna' by Bhagawan Sri Sri Sri Sathya Sai Baba Varu ( varu is telugu for the respectful avargal in tamil) and on the other side, several smaller banners announcing the arrival of Mata Amritanandamayi, the hugging mother from Kerala.
After the musical month of Margazhi, when dozens of Carnatic sabhas regaled the rasikas descending from all over the world, it is now the turn of the spiritual gurus to dish out salvation in Chennai. And we had none else than the sworn atheist, chief minister M. Karunanidhi sharing the dais with the country's top political leadership at the huge Nehru indoor stadium on the morning of January 21 to sing the praise of Sai Baba.
The gala function was organised by the Chennai Citizens' Conclave to thank Baba for the Rs.200 crore project that the Sai Central Trust had undertaken to get Krishna River water from Andhra Pradesh to quench the perennial thirst of Chennai.
It was not surprising to find all those senior Central ministers, governors, other chief ministers and so many powerful men and women praying at the 'lotus feet' of Baba on that occasion, but Karunanidhi? True, he did not touch the Godman's feet nor did he refer to those divine lotus feet. Nevertheless, he did the unthinkable, when he lauded Baba as equal to God. For someone who took pride in flaunting his atheism, that seemed a bit jarring.
But then Karunanidhi has been a master craftsman when it comes to spinning a political yarn to justify the weirdest of words and deeds. Pointing to the placards that Baba's followers had put up inside the stadium that proclaimed his motto, 'Service to mankind is service to God', the DMK chief said it was that noble philosophy that had drawn him to the dais with Baba. Needless to say that the huge audience of devotees, government officials, high court judges, youth and his own party members burst into applause.
The chief minister got even a bigger cheering when he elaborated on his 'service' theme thus—'I know how to differentiate between fake Godmen and noble souls like Arulmigu (blessed) Sai Baba, who truly reaches out to the poor and the needy. Such persons are greater than saints; in fact, they are equal to God.'
And there was more applauding when the Dravidian octogenarian drew yet another simile from his vast repertoire of political literature. Just as the Cauvery and Kollidam rivers have come together to irrigate the paddy fields and feed millions of hungry people, he and Baba were on a common mission to serve humanity. 'It's not important whether I accept God or not. What is important is that one must conduct oneself in a manner acceptable to all,' he reasoned.
He also recalled that Baba had referred to his signature yellow thundu and complimented him for carrying on with it despite all the criticism over the last six or seven years. 'I told him that Buddha has also worn a yellow upper cloth,' said the chief minister, driving home the point that the yellow shawl had more to do with Buddha than any superstitious belief, as was being made out in some quarters.
For a moment, it almost appeared as though this diehard atheist and the most famous of the followers of the rationalist Dravidar Kazhagam leader Periyar was confused handling his new avatar as the host of the best known Godman in the country. That confusion seemed to have spread through all the three Dravidian leaders on the dais, beginning with the state public works minister Durai Murugan and including the Union IT and communication minister Dayanidhi Maran.
The minister went gaga over Baba's munificence in bringing Krishna waters to Chennai and was even more excited recalling the Godman's visit to the house of thalaivar Kalaignar (leader Karunanidhi) the previous evening. The Presidents and the Prime Ministers of the country, the judges of the Supreme Court and captains of industry, name anyone you like and they are there at his lotus feet, yet Baba had chosen to go himself to thalaivar's house. And they both spoke for over 45 minutes, sharing warm mutual feelings like close associates.
Also, Baba in his famous act of creating gifts from thin air, produced two gold rings. He gave him one ring and the other to Maran (Karunanidhi's grandnephew) "But he did not give a ring to my thalaivar. I thought about it and then it struck me that Sai Baba understood that since the ring given to him by Anna (DMK founder Annadurai) was already adorning his finger, Kalaignar would not accept another ring," And from there, Durai Murugan went on to place three demands at Baba's lotus feet.
The first was for Baba's Trust to undertake the canal refurbishing work for the remaining little stretch after the 'Zero Point' at the Tamil Nadu-Andhra Pradesh border right up to the Poondi Reservoir and the Puzhal lake close to Chennai. Next was for cleaning up the Cooum River that has become the sewage for the city—he said the DMK government would even rename it after Baba. The third in the wish-list was for bringing the Hogenakal water to the Ranipet-Vaniyambadi region in north Tamil Nadu (Murugan's constituency) that has been polluted by leather tanneries.
When his turn came at the mike, Maran tore Murugan to pieces albeit veiling his anger in some jocular repartee. He said his party senior had violated copyright in stealing thalaivar's wish-list given to Sai Baba during the visit to his house. And when Baba gave the gold rings to him and Murugan, the latter even asked him for a ring for the thalaivar. Baba had replied that he had given his heart to thalaivar and he was confident that the latter reciprocated likewise.
Interestingly, while all the others on the dais addressed Sai Baba in highly reverential terms, Maran chose to call him Thiru Sai Baba.
Amid all this new bonhomie between the atheist Dravidians and the influential Sai Baba, there was yet another sidelight. During his visit to Kalaignar's Gopalapuram house Saturday evening, the chief minister's wife Dayalu Ammal touched Baba's feet seeking blessings. Some newspapers carried the picture the following morning, as if to tell the readers that all the talk of rationalism and anti-God from the Dravidian platforms is reserved only for the masses and there are different norms when it came to the personal lives of the leaders.
It was only recently that Mr Karunanidhi had gone out of his way to support the 'rationalist' activists erecting outside the famous Srirangam temple a statue of Periyar—who had rubbished God and slippered the Hindu deities in public processions. The chief minister even argued that Hindus should not object to Periyar's statue outside their places of worship when they were all along tolerating the nude statues on the temples.
Hindu leaders were quick to point out that the DMK stalwart would not erect Periyar's statues, along with the plaques carrying the guru's sayings that God did not exist and all those who believed in God were fools, outside mosques and churches. After all, God is universal to all religions and Periyar had not rubbished only Hindu Gods in his statements, argued the Hindu leaders.
The Sangh Parivar went a step further, arguing that whenever the DMK and Karunanidhi came to power, there were stepped-up attacks on Hindus and their temples. While the saffron brigade thus wailed, Periyar's followers in the DK watched in glee, even hitting a few temples here and there.
If the Hindus felt threatened, even alienated, due to those incidents that followed the statue conflict in Srirangam, the Sai Baba visit to Gopalapuram and the gala show at Nehru Stadium the following day, must have come as a much-needed whiff of fresh air. With the Kalaignar reaching out to the Godman and the latter reciprocating in equal warmth, there is now a feeling among many 'alienated' Hindus that their wounds might soon heal.
Said a Baba devotee in DMK dhoti, 'This could happen sooner than you think if only Baba says yes to Kalaignar's Cooum request. We are sure this will happen.'
Just imagine how Chennai would look with Cooum beautified, its both banks lined up with shopping malls, boating yards and Baba meditation halls. It would be lovely.
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