THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Following Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan's veiled attack against SNDP Yogam general secretary Vellapally Natesan cosying up to the Sivagiri Mutt, Swami Rithambarananda, the former Sree Narayana Dharma Sangham Trust general secretary, has come out against the efforts by the current trust members to saffronise the mutt. He told DC that unfortunately "the current lot of sanyasis" at the helm of the trust is deviating from the principles and ideologies of Sree Narayana Guru. Ever since Swami Vishuddhananda was elected as the president of the SNDST during last November, there have been efforts from the governing council to see Mr Natesan co-operating with the Mutt. This had not gone down well with Swami Rithambarananda who was defeated in the elections.
He is currently one of the 11 elected members of the SNDST board and holds the post of manager to Sree Narayana Higher Secondary School and Sivagiri Vidyaniketan. A peeved Swami Rithambarananda came down heavily on the current trust members who include Swami Sandrananda and Swami Saradananda as general secretary and treasurer, respectively, citing that it was these sanyasis who had invited Mr Natesan to Mutt after several years. “I had gone to Raj Bhavan to invite Governor P. Sathasivam to the leadership meet at Sivagiri Mutt last month. He had quizzed me about the other participants, and I informed him that only the sanyasis from the mutt would be there. But much to my surprise, I realised that he and his son Tushar Vellapally was invited, forcing me to stay away," said Rithambarananda.
“None has the right to correct Guru. It is Mr Natesan who has been saying there is nothing wrong in asking your caste, which is against Guru,” said a defiant Rithambarananda. Mr Natesan retaliated saying he was a dejected man after losing elections to the trust and that he had dropped a "dynamite” at the late hours which could have been avoided. “His words are untimely and are not befitting of a sanyasi who was keen on being at the helm of the Mutt for several more years. His intention was to make the mutt a private limited company which has since been thwarted by the current leadership”, he said. However, he took a cautious stand against Pinarayi Vijayan by reserving his comments on what led the latter to warn the followers of Guru to be vigilant against those forces who are trying to saffronise the Mutt.
