Sonia attacks BJP in poll-bound Kerala

In her inaugural address at the 83rd annual pilgrimage at Narayana Guru’s abode at Sivagiri mutt, Sonia Gandhi said there were attempts to communalise the Guru’s teachings and this amounts to ‘betraying’ him. 

“I believe that there can be no greater betrayal of Sree Narayana Guru than the attempts being made to capture his legacy by communal ideologies and individuals whose motive is political power by spreading prejudice, bigotry and dividing our diverse society,” Gandhi said here. 

Her comments assume significance against the background of the Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana Sangam (SNDP) yogam, an organisation of the numerically strong backward Ezhava community, entering into a tie-up with the BJP in Kerala where Assembly elections are due next year.     

Gandhi said the Guru believed in respect to all faiths and motivated his followers to respect all religions. In 1924, at a congregation in Aluva in Ernakulam he had stressed “the need to abstain from religious conflict and to promote universal peace, harmony and prosperity of all religions,” she added.