Malegaon accused performs ‘Shuddhikaran’ post release
Should prisoners be allowed to practice their religion or not? This is a question raised by a “Dharma Guru” who has languished behind the bars for at least nine years of his life. He has raised concerns over the laws which disallow inmates from practising their religious rituals and beliefs. Accordingly, he is mulling to approach the BJP-led government to consider permitting inmates to follow their religion inside the jails too.
Swami Amrutanand Devte alias “Shankaracharya” one of the prime accused in the 2008 Malegaon blasts case, was bailed out some two months before, by a special court. During his term in the jail, he claims that he was not allowed to practice the rituals and the beliefs of Hinduism. He claims that he was not permitted to keep the equipments that symbolise Hinduism like the “Dharma Dand” (a stick with saffron cloth).
Since his release, Shankaracharya is visiting several “Teerath Sthans” (pilgrim places) for “Shuddhikaran” (self-purification). He has visited almost all the pligrim places right from Mahakaaaleshwar to Haridwar in this span of two months, and now would be heading to Jammu, his home-town, which also houses the temple — Sharada Peeth.
In an exclusive telephonic conversation with the Free Press Journal, Shankaracharya said his almost a decade long stay in the jail has made him “impure” since he was forced to give up his routine rituals.
“I was not allowed to keep the Dharma Dand, the integral part of my religion and sect. Also, I was hardly allowed to follow my practices in all these years. All this has made me impure and so I had to perform Shudhikaran on myself. Now, I have once again accepted my Dharma Dand and I have become what I was in reality,” Shanlaracharya said.
According to Shankaracharya, the jail authorities are always controlled with a “remote” by the government. “Though the prison authorities cooperated with me up to some extent (in allowing me to follow my belief) however sometimes they behaved in a very unacceptable manner. I remember when I was arrested initially by the ATS officials, I was thrashed by them. They even tore apart my Bhagwa baana (saffron clothes) and threw it in a gutter. However, I managed to get them back despite frequent requests to wear the clothes meant for the prisoners.”
Having faced all this, Shankaracharya, a sympathizer of other Dharma Gurus like accused Asaram Bapu, now hopes that the government would consider amending the present laws. He said, “The government has amended the Passport laws and have allowed saints and sanyasis like us to use the name of their gurus instead of their father. Just like this, it can consider amending the prison rules so that sanyasis are allowed to follow what they believe in,” Shankaracharya said.
Appreciating the so called “pro Hindu” moves of the RSS backed government, a hopeful Shankaracharya said, “I hope and I have trust in the BJP government, which is working for the benefits of Hindus, will work in this light too. This government is only working to safeguard the Hindu culture and to restore the culture which has somehow become irrelevant.”
A staunch supporter of a “Hindu Rashtra”, Shankaracharya trashed the contention that there is a significant presence of “Hindu Terrorism.” He said that this is a term coined to divert the nation and its people, by some “politicians.”