Move over Savarkar, the Shankaracharya is here. Having failed to make much impact with either the tiranga yatra or the Savarkar satyagraha, the BJP today seized upon another emotive issue, the arrest of the Kanchi Shankaracharya and his remand to police custody. Using it to launch a ‘‘deshvyapi andolan’’ (nationwide movement) that will include a relay hunger-strike in the capital by the party’s top brass from tomorrow. At an ‘‘emergency’’ meeting at Atal Behari Vajpayee’s residence this morning, the BJP condemned the move ‘‘of the Tamil Nadu government’’ to send the Shankaracharya to police custody for three days and decided to hold a relay hunger-strike at Patel Chowk for three days. His lawyers said they will move the High Court against the order. Announcing the party’s decision, BJP spokesperson Sushma Swaraj said L K Advani will lead the protest fast from morning until sunset tomorrow, Murli Manohar Joshi will take over on Sunday, and Jaswant Singh on Monday. Vajpayee will address the protestors on the final day. Later in the evening, a BJP delegation led by Vajpayee and Advani went to Rashtrapati Bhavan to hand over a memorandum to President A P J Abdul Kalam. The memorandum expressed deep concern at the manner in which the Shankaracharya had been ‘‘incarcerated’’ and said ‘‘suitable guidelines’’ should be evolved for dealing with cases in which religious figures and institutions were involved. While refraining from discussing the merits of the case, the BJP leaders said, ‘‘We share though the anguish and hurt sentiments of crores of Hindus of our country.’’ Earlier in the day, Swaraj bristled with rage at the ‘‘insult’’ meted out to the Shankaracharya and said neither the British Raj nor the Mughal emperors had treated ‘‘dharmacharyas’’ with such rank disdain. ‘It is not an insult to an individual but an assault on an institution,’’ Swaraj said, while asserting that the Shankaracharya was to the Hindus what the Dalai Lama was to Buddhists or the Pope to Roman Catholics. The BJP, she said, held both the Tamil Nadu government as well as the Centre responsible for the development.She also claimed that there was not ‘‘a shred of evidence’’ against the Shankaracharya but the arrest was just a ‘‘conspiracy’’ to defame and insult him. Dravidan politics in Tamil Nadu was based on anti-Brahiminism, and both ADMK and DMK were competing with one another to secure that vote. Outside Tamil Nadu, the entire ‘‘Hindu samaj’’ was in a state of outrage, she said. The BJP, she indicated, would now join hands with the VHP to articulate the reaction.
