Mysterious death: Body found in lake may be of missing CPM leader WR

My Last Page Blog/02/2010

Politics in Peace time is a pastime: Leadership Crisis in Religion

A body fished out from a lake on the outskirts of Chennai on February 13 could be that of senior CPM leader W R Varadarajan, who has been missing for the past 10 days.

While wife Saraswati has recognized the highly decomposed body as his, his sisters, son and some party leaders have expressed their doubts. The party has decided to wait for a confirmation, including DNA test, before officially announcing Varadarajan’s death.

Known to all as WR, Varadarajan was removed from the Central Committee of the CPM at a meeting in Kolkata earlier this month for undisclosed reasons. A few days later, he had walked out of his home in Chennai, leaving behind two letters that indicated he was going to end his life and that personal strife was behind his action. The letters directed that his body be donated for research and his personal belongings be given to the party.

Old-timers pointed out that Varadarajan’s was not the first case of suicide in the party — they recalled the tragic fate of leaders like Desraj Chaddha and Shailendra Shaily. “Nobody knew why they committed suicide,” they said. Shaily, a central committee member and secretary of the Madhya Pradesh state committee killed himself in 2001, while Chaddha committed suicide around two decades ago.

A chartered accountant, WR had joined the party in 1963 when he was an RBI employee. Proficient in both English and Hindi, Varadarajan was sent to Delhi as a CITU secretary in the late ‘90s. For the next eight years, he continued there, returning to Tamil Nadu as a Central Committee member of the CPM three years ago. (Source: Express news service, Feb 22, 2010)

Great leaders in history

The Greatest leaders emerged in the world when the societies were in crisis. These were the turning points in history. Their views were considered to be radical in those times. The most influential among such leaders are Jesus Christ, Prophet Mohammed and Buddha. Great personalities like MK Gandhi, Karl Marx, Mao Zedong, Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela, EV Ramasami dedicated their lives for liberation of the people in one way or the other and their names are etched in history.

The leaders in societies who worked hard for change in the society, but subsequently emerged as political leaders like Lenin, Nehru, Lincoln were also given high place in the history. But, the political leaders in general, however powerful, were relegated to the secondary place.

Religions’ glorious past

The most influential leaders were considered as radicals initially. They were all reformists. They questioned and condemned the customs and values of the society existed in the society and advocated reforms against all the odds. Their courage, conviction and achievements made them great. Their followers during their period had purpose in life and derived strength from them. There was purpose, conviction and courage.

Politics in peace times is a pastime

Party politics and power politics within the religion destroyed the edifice of the religions. There is no purpose, conviction or courage on the part of the leaders now. Flexibility and understanding is totally lacking. Debates or arguments are not tolerated. The rebels are shown the doors or silenced. The absence of any murmur in the institutions does not mean unity, neither it is healthy. The dissention is conspicuous by its absence. There is a smoke of suspicion pervading everywhere that portends revolution.

Unholy marriage of politics with religion

Politicians who derive support from religion can not peacefully rule the country. There are so many examples glaring from history. Politics in opposition combined with religion is worse. The cinema actors join politics. Advocates and others are joining politics. No problem. They can’t make it worse. But, jumping from religion to politics? Not good for the country. But, the route from politics to religion is alright if the politicians consider themselves more talented.

Leadership crisis in Religions

Talking atheism is not revolution. There are many books on religion questioning its beliefs, practices and domination in social life. Real revolution should arise out of religion from the religious leaders espousing the cause of reforms to keep pace with the development in science and technology and the impact of the same on culture.

Human Nature

The nature of the human beings irrespective of the religion or geography is not very different from each other in a broad sense. The basic instinct such as greed, fear & beliefs and basic needs such as food, recreation, sex, etc. are common to all. However, there are restrictions on factors such as food, liquor, fashion, recreation (cinema, drama, music, etc.) in various degrees in various societies. In other words the persons’ right to use, consume and enjoy these things in their life is restricted by birth. We should agree that the glaring differences in this regard should be narrowed down. We have to make a humble start for convergence of various societies on some common minimum requirement the people are entitled to, by birth in all the societies, leaving preferences to the individual’s choice.

Revolution

Efforts in this direction will make people understand the world better that helps reduce tension and frictions in social life and international relationships. The revolution in communication and media brought people together. There is no Socrates required to teach about questioning to find out the truth in the modern age. All the questions and answers are available in their finger tips, if there is will on their part to learn. Nobody can stop this process of learning, and consequently, revolution of a different nature initiated by the people, for a change this time, unless these issues are properly addressed now with top priority.

Are the religious leaders prepared to face the consequences? Should they not be equipped to deal with such a situation? In the event of revolution can anybody predict the turn of events? They should understand that the reforms can not be postponed endlessly as it is already delayed very much. If it is delayed further, the evils in the society will spread like cancer, and that is more dangerous to the society. Everybody should understand that the transition should be smooth to avoid violent consequences.

Pottanna