Monday, January 10 2005 22:01 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) today (Jan 10, 2005) said the arrest of junior Shankaracharya Vijayendra Saraswati exposed the Tamil Nadu Government's intention to take control of the Kanchi Mutt and install a "puppet" to administer its affairs.

Reacting to the latest development, senior BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi also indicated that the party would make the arrest of the two Shankaracharyas and "complicity" of the Centre in them an issue in the coming Assembly elections in Bihar, Jharkhand and Haryana.

"With the Kanchi Shankaracharya prevented by the Supreme Court from entering the Kanchi Mutt and the arrest of the junior Pontiff, there is now a vacuum in the management of the Mutt. It is clear that the State Government's motive is to take over the Kanchi Mutt and install a puppet," Joshi told reporters.

He said the verdict of the Supreme Court granting bail to the Seer "for lack of evidence was beyond the tolerance of the prosecution and their sole aim is to tarnish the reputation of the Mutt in whatever possible manner."

Senior party leader Sushma Swaraj, who has been deputed to receive the senior Pontiff on his release from Vellore jail, would be giving her assessment of the situation on her return and the party would decide on its future course of action thereafter, Joshi said.

To a question whether BJP would make the arrest of the two Shankaracharyas an issue in the coming Assembly polls in Haryana, Bihar and Jharkhand, he said, "everything should not be linked to the elections but people in India are spiritual-minded and they are seeing all that is happening. They know that police cannot arrest the senior Shankaracharya in Congress-ruled Andhra Pradesh without the complicity of the Centre."

"People will give appropriate response at the appropriate time," Joshi said.

Expressing shock over the arrest of the junior Seer, BJP Parliamentary party spokesman V K Mahotra wondered why Congress president Sonia Gandhi has maintained silence on the issue.

"It is indeed very shocking that whenever it is a matter concerning other communities, she reacts immediately but now when it is a matter concerning Hindu sentiments, she is silent," he said.

The BJP leader said that with the Supreme Court granting bail to the senior Seer but not allowing him to enter the Mutt and now the arrest of the junior Seer, the Mutt would now be headless.