Neo Colonial Looters and the Defence of Dharma

Neo Colonial looters come in various shapes and sizes. If reports are true a prominent one today is  the Italian Catholic  of the Congress Party whose looting of the nation’s wealth has been written about by Dr.Subramania Swamy on his Janata Party website. Dr. Swamy is known for his thoroughness in his writings and one sees no reason to doubt the veracity of his accounts. The reader is requested to go there and learn the sordid details. This looting has been going on for sometime now. Then there are the various allegations against her ignominous fallen Rajput who after calling the Hindu yoga guru Baba Ramdev a thug and a fraud and having assisted in the decision(it was reported) to attack  the peaceful crowd at Ramlila grounds, has fallen silent. Then there is Rahul baba who quietly takes off to Switzerland and travels on the European continent on his Italian passport we are told (against Indian laws of citizenship). In between he holds short  tamashas in Uttar Pradesh. Indians are no longer impressed with this man. In a program on Rahul Gandhi on national television some 86% responded negatively to him. His bonafides can easily be questioned. The liberal media is propping up a political impostor.

 The Congress Party’s days are numbered. The nation is gradually but definitely waking up to the fact that this is not the once glorious party of freedom fighters, who whatever their faults and foibles and lack of proper vision were seldom corrupt in the brazen way the UPA government is today.There are rumours that some high ranking members of this ignominous lot are quietly planning a getaway to the U.S. before the chips are down conclusively.

In Kerala the wily Congressman Oomen Chandy, Chief Minister, has decided that he cannot appropriate the wealth of Lord Padmanabha, the presiding deity of the temple in Tiruvananthapuram. Even the Marxist historian K.N.Pannikar has seen the dangers of the Kerala state appropriating the temple’s wealth. It would be misused by corrupt bureaucrats and other hangers on under the pretext of development. It is not clear whether KN would hold a different view if the Left government was still in power in Kerala.

And the benighted Hindu parties, the NSS and SNDP have mysteriously united to declare that the wealth belongs to the temple and the royal house of Travancore. The Times of India has rendered a service to the entire country by producing an impressive article on the royal family and its history of service to Kerala. Unlike other royals, the royal family of Travancore did not indulge in profligacy but patronized art and culture. They lived a relatively austere life and were in the forefront of social reform. In 1936 there was the famous Proclamation on Temple Entry whereby Hindu temples were thrown open to all Hindus regardless of their caste. The death penalty was abolished. The women of the royal family became pioneers of women’s education and so on (See ‘Lord Vishnu’s royal servants guard his riches’  Ananthakrishnan G. , Times of India, July 5,2011).

In that same article we read :

“As Sree Padmanabha Swamy temple’s glittering gems are valued and tagged, it’s not just the diamonds that shine but also the royal family of the erstwhile princely state of Travancore.

It’s an ode to the family’s unflinching devotion and integrity that not a penny has gone missing from the billions stored in the cellars of the centuries-old shrine administered by the royals.”

And so, apart from the legalities of whether the wealth found in the cellars of the temple belongs to the royal family or to the state or to the people, here is one pre eminently suitable trustee of this wealth, the royal house of Travancore. They have been the trustees and guardians of the Temple since the 18th century. The kingdom of Travancore lapsed in 1949 following the Instrument of Accession with the Union of India. But the management of the temple remained with the royal family by virtue of a covenant.

There are, ofcourse, busybodies and sinister agents fishing in troubled waters. Haindava  Keralam has drawn attention to  Ananda Bose who has made it his business to invite international agencies to assess the wealth and decide what to do with it. The reader can take a look at the article ‘ The Wealth of Lord Padmanabha : Who gave Ananda Bose the right to call an international team ?’ Haindava Keralam, 05/07/2011).

An anonymous reporter in the Times must surely be something of a joker when he writes that the wealth found in the Temple vaults can be used by the government for important purposes . His entire agenda which he/she eloquently describes can be quoted:

“  While a final word is yet to emerge about the exact evaluation, reports that have appeared peg it around Rs.1 lakh crore. The staggering amount can help the cash strapped
Kerala state fund several of its programmes and transform its economy.

The amount that is being bandied around could also meet the cost of rolling out the Food Security Act(around Rs. 70,000 crore) and the rural job guarantee spending of Rs. 40,000 crore.

If deployed for economic benefits, it could meet the Centre’s education budget for two-and-a-half years and Rs.82,000 crore more than what the government hopes to collect this year. It can help meet the central govenrment’s interest and debt payment liability for over 4 months and is  equivalent to seven months’ defence spending.”

(‘Lord’s riches worth more than Rs. 1 lakh crore’ , The Times of India, July 5,2011).

Readers were not impressed as can be seen from the responses to the article. It is possible that the anonymous gentleman/gentlewoman was engaging in a hoax. Serious responders made the helpful suggestion that it might be better if all the black money stashed away in Swiss banks and elsewhere and all the corrupt monies from the various scams of the Commonwealth Games and the 2G Spectrum were to be utilized for the lofty programs suggested by the author of the article !

With a plethora of shady characters and their programs floating about in the body politic it is imperative that Hindus/Indians unite to defend the dharmic purposes intended by Raja Marthanda Varma when he sequestered the money wisely in the 18th century away from possible invaders and subsequently sequestered by the royal family against the colonial looters of the British Raj. At present the neo colonial looters are hovering around and they too must be identified and roundly defeated in their nefarious purpose of stealing the nation’s wealth.

The photo in the Times shows the present Raja Marthanda Varma holding a scepter/sword as defender of Dharma. It is time that all Hindus/Indians united in the noble aim of protecting the nation’s wealth from the neo colonial looters and their henchmen/women, in the country.

(The writer is a Political Philosopher who taught at a Canadian university).

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