The experiences bestowed by Kanchi-Mahaswami — Part 30 : Enemies turned Friends
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“In 1981, The religious conversion that took place in Meenakshipuram (TN) shook the entire Nation. Many people including PM Indira, President Zail Singh & Opposition leader Vajpayee thought that such acts are against religious cordiality & the Nation’s interest. It was planned by the foreign forces aided by foreign funds. As usual, irresponsible liberals tried to justify it. Whereas, all responsible political parties saw that act as a violation of constitutional provisions on religious freedom. How did that act happen only in TN? Opposition to Hinduism. DMK which was making ridiculous claims like social justice, secularism was indirectly responsible for some muslim organizations who worked on the conversion program. And, the same occasion was responsible for the formation of Hindu Munnani by Ramagopalan. In TN, DMK sowed anti-Hindu polarization activities.
We will convert to a different religion
TN RSS leader Suryanarayana Rao had asked me to prepare a detailed report on the role of external, internal & fundamentalist organizations behind the conversion & methods. In addition, I had mentioned how countries like Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh were mutilated from us and how we were on the verge of losing Kashmir, Nagaland & Mizoram with a detailed historical background. It was shared with Vajpayee and govt officials too. While doing the groundwork, I realized the ill effects of conversion that changed our history drastically.
Cho had an interview with Suryanarayana Rao in the backdrop of the Meenakshipuram incident. He also published a debate between Suryanarayana Rao & muslim league leader Abdul Samad. Cho also that the Meenkashipuram conversion was a dangerous precedent. Cho & I had discussed it, many times. That conversion trend continued to happen. Many social organizations (who claimed to represent the depressed classes, namesake) were making headlines by presenting the conversion threat. They mentioned it was happening due to caste atrocities, lack of police protection & Government apathy.
There was a news item about such type of conversion in the heart of Chennai at Mylapore. Along with my RSS friends, I had gone to that place to enquire and let me share that experience too.
First they threatened
When the Chennai incident happened, I was playing the role of consultant to Express group and yet to become a full-fledged journalist. Nevertheless, I had a huge influence on the Express group of publications throughout the country. Next to Goenka, I was the most influential person in the group. On the professional front also, I was gaining name and ascendancy in the practice. But, I didn’t want to keep quiet when such an atrocious act happens in my vicinity. My friends had also agreed to help. We want to find out the people in the background.
I shared this with Cho. He had asked me to narrate this to his employee ‘Udayar’. I could not forget or share the details given by Udayar. I was surprised to see the multiple differing opinions on this issue. Cho further advised me to stay away from it. But, I did not want to give up so easily. I had decided to go to the place along with my friends.
Along with long-time RSS workers Srinivasan, Natarajan, Ramarao, Arunachalam & my business partner Varadarajan, I went to the place in the evening. That housing complex was having hundreds of houses. As soon as we entered, 10–12 Youngsters surrounded us and started questioning. When we mentioned the reason, they started abusing and harassing us. We had a scuffle. Then, they started pelting stones. We returned with few injuries. We took the darshan of Lord Ganapathy in the nearby temple and start discussing the next steps. Those youngsters were watching us from their housing colony. After an hour, we had decided to go there again, the next day also.
Next came abuses
The next day, when we entered, they started abusing us very violently. We remained patient and requested them the reason for such forceful conversion. They told us to get out quietly. There was a difference between the first day and the next day. On the first day, we were threatened and on the second day, we were abused. It made our condition slightly better. Again, we went to the temple. I said to my friends, “Conversion is a decoy. They are having some other problem. Let us find out the core reason”. Again, we had decided to go there on the following day. When we went there, the youth ignored us. Some of the elders, who were observing this had asked us to stay away that was fomented by the local politics. They were also ignorant about the conversion threat. That confirmed that this threat was a handiwork of few people.
Finally Friendship
Then, we had decided to discuss meet some and find out the truth. Then we moved away from the place and walked towards a nearby beach. We were followed by some of them. Then we halted and called them closer to us. Four of them (Gunasekaran, Jayagopi, Ranganathan & Vadivelu) apologized to us and introduced themselves.
Guna was working in CPWD, Jayagopi was with Chennai corporation and the other two were with private companies. After the introduction they said, “Sir, we want to discuss with you freely. It will take time. Do you have time?”. We went to the beach and it was 9 pm. When we enquired about the reason behind conversion they shared their side of the problem and requested us to provide a solution.
The Truth that came out
When they came to know about my position in Express, it helped to gain their confidence. This is the gist — Their housing colony was having depressed class members as the majority and the adjacent housing colony had members from a different caste. There was a fight between them on illicit liquor arrangements & sales. It led to property damage on both sides. To get the attention of newspapers and the Government, the depressed class members floated this idea.
We finished our conversation at midnight and gave them the confidence that the law & order problem would be sorted out very soon in their favour and justice would be restored. We collected the details of the attack, members involved, etc., and compiled a detailed report. I went to the commissioner office to hand over the report to the then Chennai police commissioner, Sripal.
PS: I was in touch with them between 1981–86 and later, I lost touch due to my travel. With the help of my friend Srinivasan, I spoke to two of them via teleconference. They were all happy and proudly mentioned that they are this magazine’s regular readers
