The Hindu

Bangalore, Oct 21: Defending the reported decision of Sri Veerabhadra Channamalla Swamiji of Nidumamidi Math (Bagepalli and Anantapur) not to share any public or private platform with Minister in the coalition government, the former Minister P.G.R. Sindhia has said that "unethical persons" who have not understood their constitutional obligations have formed the government.

Participating in the 98th birth anniversary of Jachani, the late head of Nidumamidi Math, here on Friday, Mr. Sindhia said the math had been espousing secular values and unorthodox traditions right from its inception. The decision of Sri Veerabhadra Channamalla Swamiji was "pertinent and justifiable" as persons who claimed that they did not know the "meaning of secularism" were part of the present government. "Politics in the State has become a business without investment," he observed.

Sri Veerabhadra Channamalla Swamiji, analysing the works and achievements of Jachani, said his mentor was a link between tradition and modernity. The seeds of many social movements in the State could be traced in his works. Jachani was in touch with the late E.V. Ramaswamy Naikar, right from 1938. He would have launched a social movement on the lines of Periyar's Dravidian movement in the State had he not been bestowed with the responsibility of the math, he said.

Commenting on the "scandalous affairs" of some religious institutions, the swamiji said that in the post-Independence scenario, a majority of religious institutions were eager to protect the interests of its caste and sub-castes and in amassing wealth. Such institutions had become the ardent followers of "despicable aspects of Manu Dharma" instead of serving the cause of society and upholding the values of humanity, he said.

The former Union Ministers C.K. Jaffer Sharief and V. Srinivas Prasad and the former Minister A. Laxmisagar were present. A number of devotees of the math from all the southern States participated in the programme.