Author: Shekhar Iyer
Publication: The Hindustan Times
Date: May 11, 2003
HRD Minister M.M. Joshi on Saturday
pledged to include the teachings of Shree Narayana Guru - Kerala's backward
class icon - in the NCERT and CBSE syllabus and set up a national university
in his name.
Shree Narayana Guru (1856-1928)
is to the Ezhavas - Kerala's politically most powerful community - what
B.R. Amdekar is to Dalits. Joshi's announced his support at a global convention
of Ezhavas.
Joshi became the first top-ranking
BJP leader to address the Shree Narayana Dharma Paripalanasangam (SNDP)
Yogam. He invited the Yogam to turn itself into a "propeller of economic
transformation and political change. Narayana Guru is inspiration for the
RSS and the BJP and is remembered daily in the RSS shakhas".
Attacking the Left for neglecting
the works of spiritual and social reformists like Narayana Guru and Adi
Shankaracharya, Joshi recalled Narayana Guru's opposition to the conversion
of Kerala's backward classes to other religions. He talked of how he fought
upper Hindu caste tyranny by consecrating Ezhava Shiva temples.
Joshi told the Ezhava leaders that
the BJP was earnestly trying to end social inequality and the party had
the maximum SC/ST MPs and MLAs. "Even our support to the Mayawati government
in UP has to be seen in this context."
Founded in 1903, the SNDP Yogam
has played a curious role in Kerala politics. Its present secretary-general,
Vellapalli Natesan, who is said to be politically ambitious, has called
for "reuniting Hindu society".
The Sangh Parivar is working hard
to wean away the Ezhava community from the Left and a section of the Congress
led by K. Karunakaran. Natesan is said to be keen that the SNDP Yogam plunges
into active politics by forging alliance with the Nair Service Society
(NSS).
The Ezhavas make up for more than
25 per cent of the Hindus, who make 52 per cent of the state's population.
The Nairs are second only to Ezhavas in terms of clout. Till date,
the NSS has not opened up to the BJP.
