Sonia Gandhi slams bid to hijack Narayana Guru

Guru wanted that people should not be divided in the name of caste or religion.

Update: 2015-12-31 07:07 GMT
Congress president Sonia Gandhi with SNDST general secretary Swami Rithambarananda and president Swami Prakashananda at the 83rd annual pilgrimage on Wednesday. KPCC president V.M. Sudheeran, CM Oommen Chandy and Excise minister K. Babu look on. (

Thiruvananthapuram: Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday hit out at the communal outfits  for trying to hijack Sree Narayana Guru’s legacy to create social divide and capture power.     

“The designs of such  forces should be countered with Guru’s teachings,” said Ms Sonia Gandhi while inaugurating the 83rd annual pilgrimage at Sivagiri.

She used her maiden visit to  Sivagiri to launch a veiled attack against the BJP and SNDP Yogam and said there were attempts to communalise Guru’s teachings  betraying the great social reformer.

"The  motive of such forces is to capture political power by spreading prejudice, bigotry and splitting  our diverse society. Guru respected all faiths and taught his  followers to do it,”  said Mrs. Gandhi.

She was targeting the alliance between the BJP and SNDP Yogam in the  run-up to the state Assembly elections.

She said that Guru’s teachings of equality, liberty and social justice were  relevant even at this age.  “At a congregation in Aluva in 1924, Guru had stressed the need to abstain from religious conflict and to promote universal peace, harmony and prosperity of all religions. Guru established the Sivagiri Mutt as a symbol of social reformation and equality,”  added Ms Sonia Gandhi.

Sree Narayana Dharma Sangham Trust president Swami Prakashananda, general secretary Swami Rithambaranada and other  members  gifted Mrs. Gandhi an elephant caparison with the pictures of Guru and other reformers like Dr. Palpu,  Tagore and  Kumaran Asan  inscribed on it.

Sonia opens rajiv institute silver jubilee

Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday hailed the contributions made by her late husband and former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi in bringing India to the forefront of  IT industry.  Inaugurating  the silver jubilee celebrations of the Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Technology (RIT) at Pampady near here, she said, “Rajiv Gandhi brought India into the IT age. Today our country is recognized the world over as a leader in IT. The basic infrastructure for science and technology and  higher education that has made this possible was established during Jawaharlal Nehru's tenure as Prime Minister,”  she said.  
 
The RIT  was presented in the budget of June 12, 1991 after the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi. Though the first phase of the project was completed in 2004,  a formal function was  held for the first time after  the establishment of the college.

‘Research centre on guru soon’

A research centre for the study of the life and teachings of  Sree Narayana Guru will be started soon, Chief Minister Oommen Chandy said on Wednesday.  Speaking at the inauguration of the 83rd Sivagiri pilgrimage, he also said that the government had decided to establish a fellowship in Guru’s name.

“The director of Sree Narayana Guru Study Centre has been entrusted to establish a fellowship in Guru’s name,” Chandy said.  His life and teachings are  already part of the curriculum of students from class 3 to 12.

Guru wanted that  people should not be divided  in the name of caste or religion,  Mr Chandy said and urged that those trying to create divisions  in the name of caste should learn the  ethics of  Guru.

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