Shastri then issued a whip, causing the KVP meeting to be cancelled. But Shukla, Upadhyay and Pachauri formed a parallel body -- the Varanaseya Vidvat Parishad -- and went ahead with Amritanand’s abhisheka (anointment) as shankaracharya. “I have issued a charge-sheet against the erring KVP members. It is parallel bodies like these that have so denigrated eminent institutions like the KVP. The matter
calls for a thorough probe and the culprits’ prosecution.”
Swami Aviroopanand, however, disapproves of the KVP’s activities as well. “Of late this organisation has lost all dignity and prestige. No less than five persons in Varanasi claim to be its president or general secretary,” says the swami who is deputy of Swami Swaroopanand Saraswati, the Shankaracharya of Badrinath and Dwarka.
Now as the murky side of Hindutva is coming to the fore, most of those who were involved in “anointing” Sudhakar Dwivedi feel safer underground or in finding alibis to deny their complicity. “Pachauri put my name on the invitation without my consent. I attended the function in my capacity as pro-vice chancellor of Sampurnanand Sanskrit University. The allegations that I took money for this are false,” claims Shivji Upadhyay. He also accuses Batuk Shastri of dividing the KVP.
The convener of the function, Ram Yatna Shukla, says he doesn’t know Amritanand “personally” and had protested against his anointment. Pachauri, meanwhile, has been untraceable since the ATS arrested Amritanand alias Dwivedi.
Such is the murky world of these new age shankaracharyas! There is no hierarchy and absolutely no checks and balances. For a price, anyone can claim to be a pandit, an acharya, a ramanujacharya, a mahandleshwar or a shankaracharya.
But no matter! Hindutva’s torchbearers are in no great hurry to look within. Their foremost concern, in the words of VHP leader Dr Surendra Jain, is to prevent the “vilification” of Hindu leaders by “pseudo-secular” politicians and “pliable” organisations like the ATS. Says Jain, “We will pay attention to this aspect too ."...Continue
calls for a thorough probe and the culprits’ prosecution.”Swami Aviroopanand, however, disapproves of the KVP’s activities as well. “Of late this organisation has lost all dignity and prestige. No less than five persons in Varanasi claim to be its president or general secretary,” says the swami who is deputy of Swami Swaroopanand Saraswati, the Shankaracharya of Badrinath and Dwarka.
Now as the murky side of Hindutva is coming to the fore, most of those who were involved in “anointing” Sudhakar Dwivedi feel safer underground or in finding alibis to deny their complicity. “Pachauri put my name on the invitation without my consent. I attended the function in my capacity as pro-vice chancellor of Sampurnanand Sanskrit University. The allegations that I took money for this are false,” claims Shivji Upadhyay. He also accuses Batuk Shastri of dividing the KVP.
The convener of the function, Ram Yatna Shukla, says he doesn’t know Amritanand “personally” and had protested against his anointment. Pachauri, meanwhile, has been untraceable since the ATS arrested Amritanand alias Dwivedi.
Such is the murky world of these new age shankaracharyas! There is no hierarchy and absolutely no checks and balances. For a price, anyone can claim to be a pandit, an acharya, a ramanujacharya, a mahandleshwar or a shankaracharya.
But no matter! Hindutva’s torchbearers are in no great hurry to look within. Their foremost concern, in the words of VHP leader Dr Surendra Jain, is to prevent the “vilification” of Hindu leaders by “pseudo-secular” politicians and “pliable” organisations like the ATS. Says Jain, “We will pay attention to this aspect too ."...Continue
