Mutt chief justifies 1995 police action in Sivagiri

Thiruvananthapuram, Sep 18 (PTI) Sivagiri Mutt chief Swami Sachidananda on Thursday defended the police action at the Mutt in 1995 to effectively transfer power to Swami Prakashananda, who had then won the elections to the trust.

“What happened at the mutt was painful for the believers in Sree Narayana Guru’s ideals. Several people who had no links with the mutt had gathered to prevent the power transfer and the police had to use force to disperse them,” Sachidnananda told Asianet News channel.

He said the action followed a strict High Court directive that all possible steps should be taken to effect the power transfer and the then government had actually helped Sivagiri Mutt through the action.

“Those who complicated the issues at the Mutt were responsible for the situation. They were at fault, and not the government,” he said.

At a press conference on Wednesday, former Chief Minister A K Antony had explained the reasons behind the police actions at Sivagiri Mutt in 1995 and Muthanga in 2003 during his tenures as CM, which he termed as ‘unfortunate.’ Antony’s clarification came after Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan recounted the police excesses during the previous UDF governments, in his reply to the discussion on police brutality in the state assembly on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, tribal leader C K Janu said the brutal police action against tribals who had encroached on the forest area, demanding land for them, can never be pardoned.

“The police had blindly attacked the tribals and did not even spare children. It cannot be forgotten even after all these years,” she said.

Janu said she was happy that Antony had realised his "mistake" at this late stage.

The then government did not properly intervene in the issue raised by tribals and there were many possibilities to settle the stir other than the police action, she said.

Janu said it was not just the government, but all political parties had turned against the tribals’ protest during the period. PTI MVG MVG ROH