Human rights activists have urged the government of the southern Indian state of Kerala to protect the right to expression of reputed Indian writer-journalist, Paul Zacharia, who, they said, was being threatened by members of a Hindu religious cult.
In a letter to Kerala's elected head of state -- Chief Minister A.K Antony -- the Confederation of Human Rights Organisations (CHRO) Wednesday said that a campaign had been launched against Zacharia by followers of Mata Amritanandamayi, head of a religious sect of which Antony himself is a devotee.
"We request you, as Chief Minister, to treat this issue with utmost seriousness," the letter said. It asked him to initiate "stern urgent measures" to stop the "Gujaratisation of Kerala" -- a reference to increased religious bigotry in the western Indian state of Gujarat last year, leading to the death of at least 2,000 people in anti-Muslim riots.
Zacharia, a strident critic of religious chauvinism, has been writing against Hindu fundamentalist organizations, especially in the context of the role played by the groups in the violence in Gujarat. Several human rights groups, including the New York-based Human Rights Watch, have said that the riots were engineered by Hindu groups and accused the Hindu nationalist state government, of failing to curb the violence.
Zacharia's position has irked religious groups in Kerala, where the writer is based. "Zacharia has been blindly criticizing and attacking us," said Swami Amritaswarupananda Puri, vice-chairperson of the religious sect, Mata Amritanandamayi Math. "But though he has been very nasty, we have been really patient with him," he said.
The CHRO, an umbrella group of nine leading human rights bodies of Kerala, however, held that the Web site run by followers of Amritanandamayi, known as Amma (Mother), contained a "hate campaign" against Zacharia.
The letter to the chief minister quoted a message posted on the Web site as saying: "The venomous mind of Zacharia has been pouring forth poison through his pen for quite some time now. He has crossed the lines of all decency. It is high time to respond to this evil minded writer befittingly. Amma's children should spring to action now. He considers our silence as weakness... We should not let this extremely wicked person harass our most Beloved Amma who has offered Herself to the world. Come on... Let us do it now...Gather as many people as you can... Stop keeping quiet to this adharmic (irreligious) person."
CHRO secretary general Mukundan C Menon told OneWorld Thursday that the campaign against Zacharia was not mere "Internet abuse and hate mongering" done by ordinary citizens. "...since it came from Swami Amritaswarupananda and others belonging to the "holy Ashram" and through the official Web site, ...it should be taken in its totality." Menon said.
The campaign against Zacharia, Menon held, followed a CHRO statement that Zacharia had signed, opposing the prosecution of a rationalist leader, Sreeni Pattathanam, who had written a book on Amritanandamayi.
"The present official move against Sreeni Pattathanam is a clear violation and infringement of the rights of a citizen to peruse scientific path, to spread the message of rational thinking within the society, and to oppose the irrational beliefs on living Gods and Goddesses so as to prevent taking the present society back to Medieval Ages," the statement signed by Zacharia and other writers, professors and journalists on June 20 said. "The Constitution of India duly upholds this right of citizens to peruse rational and scientific thinking," it said.
The statement said: "Since certain ruling politicians ..., apart from various officials, are known devotees of Mata Amritanandamayi, we have reasons to doubt that there is a sinister and malicious conspiracy behind the present official exercise to prosecute Sreeni Pattathanam."
The Kerala-based CHRO expressed concern that the chief minister was among a group of political dignitaries who called on Amritanandamayi for her blessings in the capital of Kerala, Thiruvananthapuram, last week.
"Since such a widely publicized high profile "holy" exercise took place amidst the threatening hate campaign launched by her devotees against Zacharia, we are aghast and concerned as to what message it renders to the general public in Kerala," it said.
The group stressed that as the elected head of Kerala, it was Anthony's "constitutional obligation to safeguard the life and property" of all citizens of the state. "In the present instance of open threat perceptions to Zacharia ... we urge you that your personal devotion to her should not stand in the way of executing your Constitutional obligations," it said.
"Similar to your right to remain as a devotee of Mata Amritanadamayi, people like Zacharia and others also have undeniable, undeterred and unfettered rights to freely express as well as disseminate their views and opinions," the groups said. "May we also remind (you) that it is you who are duty bound to protect these basic rights of all citizens?"