Centre to blame for seer's plight: BJP

The Bharatiya Janata Party on Sunday held the Centre "equally responsible" for Kanchi Shankaracharya Jayendra Saraswathi's arrest.

"The Centre says it is an issue of the Tamil Nadu government. But where was the Shankaracharya arrested? In Mehboobnagar. And where is Mehboobnagar? In Andhra Pradesh, where the Congress is in power," BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi, who led the party's 'Upwaas Dharna' in New Delhi to protest against the arrest, said.

Also Read The Shankaracharya's arrest: The full coverage

Winding up the daylong fast and dharna at Parliament Street, he said, "It is not possible that the Shankaracharya was arrested in Mehboobnagar without the chief minister of the state consulting the Centre on the issue."

He also criticised Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa, saying that the arrest was in reaction to the Shankaracharya's comments in an interview that one reason for the All India Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam's debacle in the Lok Sabha election could be the CM's "arrogance".

Joshi said that the TN government wanted to bring the Kanchi mutt its control or under the control of a trust.

"On the one hand it is difficult to take many proven criminals to jail, and even in jail they are given VIP treatment. And on the other hand, the Shankaracharya is being treated like a common criminal," he said.

Joshi, who last week met the seer in Vellore jail, said, "He is not being allowed to cook his own food. There is a special procedure that is followed by him while preparing food, which he is unable to do now. It is not easy for him to even get flowers for his puja."

"It is being said that law should take its own course. But the law, the Constitution have to be in keeping with the wishes of the people," Joshi said.

The arrest "is an attack on our religion, our civilisation, our culture and tradition.

"We have to get ready for a long struggle to fight against people who are hell-bent on destroying our age-old culture and tradition," he said.

Joshi was accompanied on the dharna by several BJP leaders, including Sushma Swaraj, Arun Jaitley, Najma Heptullah.

Meanwhile, Swaraj announced that the dharna, originally a three-day affair, would continue for as long as the Shankaracharya remained in custody.

"We have learnt that the Tamil Nadu government has filed a petition in court to extend the police remand of the Shankaracharya till November 26," she said.