Chennai, November 16
NDA convener George Fernandes and former Union Minister for Human Resource Development and BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi today separately met the Kanchi Shankaracharya at the Vellore central prison, 180 km from here, and demanded Central intervention while giving a clean chit to him.

Both strongly condemned the treatment meted out to the seer and said he was ready to accept the court verdict.

Mr Fernandes said: “I know him very closely and personally for the past 30 years and am finding it very difficult to believe that he was involved in such a crime.”

The NDA convener, who arrived here this afternoon, strongly condemned the arrest of Jayendra Saraswathi and said it violated “human rights and decency”.

He said: “This kind of treatment should not have been given to a person of his stature.” “If the seer had committed a crime, there were a lot of ways and means in the law to deal with. Human rights and decency have been violated in the arrest,” Mr Fernandes said.

Asked whether the NDA would demand the dismissal of the Jayalalithaa Government on this issue, the NDA convener replied: “I am not here to demand anything. I have come here to find out what exactly happened.”

On his way from Vellore to the airport Dr Joshi also dropped in at the Kanchi Mutt, 70 km from here, and had an hour-long discussion with Vijayendra Saraswathi. He said he would seek the intervention of the Central Government in the case. “I appeal to the Centre to intervene in the matter. It cannot remain silent,” he added.

The meeting with the junior Shankaracharya came close after Dr Joshi had a 20-minute interview with the jailed Shankaracharya at Vellore earlier. Talking to newsmen earlier at Vellore, Dr Joshi lashed out at the Tamil Nadu Government and severly criticised public prosecutor K. Doraiswamy.

He said: “The manner in which he was arrested (in a murder case) is most reprehensible. But if there is something, let the court decide it. Even Swamiji is saying the same thing that whatever is the court verdict we will accept it.”

“The way the public prosecutor described Swamiji in court is not only unfortunate but also condemnable. Before being judged he described Swamiji as a criminal and said that if given the permission to cook his own food he might consume poison and commit suicide. This is totally absurd.”

“Then he mentioned about Swamiji trying to flee to Nepal. Swamiji is accorded government security. How can he flee? These are all ludicrous arguments put forward by the public prosecutor who is trying to tarnish Swamiji’s and the Kanchi Mutt’s image,” an angry Dr Joshi said. He also pointed out: “The Tamil Nadu police claimed they arrested Swamiji on the basis of hard evidence. Now they are demanding his custody but failed to furnish the evidence before the court and asked for time. All this looks like they are trying to frame him on the basis of cooked-up evidence.”

He said people all over the country were anguished and angry. It would be “difficult” to take such action against the Shankaracharya “without the Central Government’s approval”. “I cannot say what are the reasons behind it. But I can surely say this does not seem to be any ordinary case. It smacks of a conspiracy,” he added.

While leaving for New Delhi, the BJP leader said: “I won’t be meeting the Chief Minister but I might send my report to her. Swamiji only said that God should give wisdom to everyone.”

The senior BJP leader is expected to brief BJP President, L.K. Advani and former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on the issue. The BJP will also call on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and seek his intervention though law and order is a state subject and the Centre can do little other than unofficially exert pressure on Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa.