ജസ്റ്റിസ്‌ കെ ടി തോമസ്‌ സ്പീച് ഇന്‍ gurupooja

Respected Mohanji Bhagwat, other respected men on the dais and respected
members of the audience,

I was wobbling in my mind as to whether I should speak in the language in
which the proceedings were being conducted thus far or in a language in
which my speech would be understood by our honorable guest. I have chosen
the latter. Because, if I speak in English, in a State like Kerala where the
literacy rate is so high, the audience will be able to follow and our
honorable guest will also be able to follow.

I deem it as a real honor and privilege that I am invited to preside over
this highly venerated function, Guru Pooja. You know from my name that I am
a Christian. I was born in that and I practice that religion. I am a
Church-going Christian. But my advantage is that I learnt many things about
the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. I developed an admiration for this
disciplined core of this country as early as 1979 when I was posted as
Additional District Judge of Calicut. The Principal District Judge was Mr.
A.R.Sreenivasan. Anyone who knew him will agree that his honesty was hundred
percent, his integrity was transparent, his scholarship was unparalleled and
his commitment to the country was unquestionable. Above all, the discipline
he followed in his life was also very admirable. On his retirement, I took
over as the Principal District Judge. But immediately Mr. A.R.Sreenivasan
became a member of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. We used to communicate
and converse many things. That occasion gave me the advantage of jettisoning
many things which the smearing and simmering propaganda made by interested
persons outside about the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. Such notions could be
eliminated from my mind. I became a real admirer of this organization.

I regard many things on the objectivity point of view. Prejudice is a
weakness of human being. Human being is not prepared to accept a thing
without objectivity. When objectivity is applied, the smearing propaganda
earlier that RSS is responsible for the murder of Mahatma Gandhi, appears to
be unjust and uncharitable. I learnt more about it. Of course, the mere fact
that the assassin happened to be once upon a time a member of the
organization cannot make the disciplined organization responsible for the
murder of the Father of the Nation. Had it been so, can you say that the
entire Sikh community of India is responsible for the murder of Indira
Gandhi? Can it be said that merely because Jesus Christ was crucified by
Roman soldiers at the orders of a Roman Judge, that the whole Roman people
at that time committed the murder of Jesus Christ?

There should be objectivity in approaching these things. And I, therefore,
went and read the judgment of Justice Khosla in the Mahatma Gandhi
assassination case and I found that the learned judge of Punjab High Court
has completely exonerated Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh as not having anything
to do with the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi. I say that this smearing
campaign must end in this country. Otherwise it will really be unjust on the
part of anyone. With this approach, I have seen this organization from a
distance. I happen to travel with the predecessor of our honorable guest
today. Mr.Sudarsanji was with me in the train from Chennai up to my home
town station. We could communicate many things that time. It is amazing to
learn about his great scholarship and how he insisted on a simple living.
And I found out that this is a hallmark of the members of this organization.
Simple living and high thinking. And thereafter, I want to tell you, that
for every Christmas he used to send me a Christmas greeting card which
contains a quotation from the Gospel of the Bible and a precept from
Bhagavad Gita. I used to reciprocate in the same way as he did.

For me, it gave me an opportunity to learn more and more about this
organization. And the best test in my life about this organization is during
the dark months of Emergency when Indira Gandhi declared Constitution
suspended – on the major portion – and when the whole country became
benumbed before the whip swished by Indira Gandhi. The only non-political
organization which worked fearlessly in the subterranean sector was the
Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh with the result that this country that is Bharat
could be liberated from the pangs of a dictator. We owe very much to this
organization for sacrificing many lives and many of the pleasures in life
for regaining what our leaders had gained for this country, namely, the
fundamental rights of this country.

Now I am disturbed in seeing that for the sake of vote banks, the security
of the nation is compromised in many regards. Article 19 of the Constitution
is a catalogue of freedoms for the Indian people. But every such freedom is
restricted to one thing - that is reasonable restriction of a common factor
- that is the security of the State. The Constitution makers were very
insistent that primordiality should be given to the security of the State
because we have to live in the State. When I come across with many official
activities - governmental and political - where the security of the State is
given less prominence than the vote bank, I am really disturbed. That is a
matter in which the country should stand unanimously and uniformly and with
a strident voice declare that we will not tolerate such a policy to be
followed.

The propaganda that the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh is anti-minority is a
baseless propaganda. After all, what is a minority? I have realized that
according to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, whatever religion you belong
to, you must be a full patriot. Your faith is immaterial. Whichever faith
you follow, only insistence for you is that you shall not have any
extra-territorial loyalties. I also realize that no one is entitled to tell
somebody that ‘my’ religion is better than ‘your’ religion and therefore
abandon ‘your’ religion and join ‘my’ religion. No person who has any
knowledge of the fundamentals of his own religion can say that. The basic
precept of one’s own religion is that the other religion is not only equally
important but multiplicity of religions sometimes is a gift of God to
mankind because all religions have got weaknesses. And in order to replenish
the weakness of one religion some benefits are given to the other religion.
It is a country where a composite culture has been created; where faith is
immaterial but your loyalty, your commitment and your patriotism is most
important.


I have a different concept about minority. I use to speak out this aspect on
many platforms for which I had received more brickbats than flowers. Who is
a minority in this country? - Only that section which has got minus
features. Minority is discernable from Article 29 of the Constitution where
any section of India can be a minority. It can be based on culture, script,
language, etc. Any section which is suffering from any disadvantage can be a
minority provided they are numerically less. Faith - wise minority
recognized in Article 30 is only for one limited purpose. That is for
conducting educational institutions without the steamroller-majority rolling
over them. If a person is able to read Article 29 first, as a student of
Constitution I will tell you, it does not envisage a minority based on
religion or faith. When it comes to Article 30, this word religion is meant
only with regard to the educational institutions.

I was a member of the 11 Judges’ bench of the Supreme Court first, which
could not complete the argument in TMA Pai case. The point of view which
emerged among the majority of judges at that time was that the education
which is envisaged in Article 30 should only be secular education and not
professional education. When we put this to Mr. Fali S Nariman, the great
lawyer became angry and he said that it is an aspect which has been
concluded long, long ago and the word education will cover anything even
beyond, much beyond secular education. Unfortunately our bench could not
complete the arguments and hearings and the judgment could not be delivered.
Many years later, after my retirement, an 11 member bench was formed and
there also Fali S Nariman addressed arguments and finally the verdict came
accepting that education in Article 30 means education at any level.

I am mentioning this for another purpose. That great lawyer who really is
the author of this concept of the plenary meaning of the education has
written an autobiography wherein he confessed that “today I intensely regret
having adopted that attitude towards education.” The whole disaster in this
country in the field of education is on account of pioneering that aspect in
this country which the Supreme Court accepted unfortunately. I wanted to
mention this in some august place. I have chosen this assembly for bringing
to notice that the education in Article 30, even according to the great
lawyer who once pioneered this argument, is that it should be limited to the
secular education. So, that is the only area where religion has something to
say about minority. Otherwise, in a big country like India, minority should
have nothing to do with faith. Faith could be changed by anybody. That was
exactly what happened when a medical college was started by one Palaniappa
Gownder in Tamil Nadu. Later when he found that because of some new
legislation he will get more benefits, he converted in to Christianity and
became Deivasahayam and he is continuing the medical college now. Anyone can
change religion like that.

You are making a law based on a faith! In a secular nation, in a secular
republic like ours, that shall not happen. In a secular republic, religion
shall not be your identity but your being an Indian shall be your identity.

That is what precisely Zakir Hussain, when he became the Rashtrapathi of
India, said. He was congratulated by TVR Shenoy, the journalist. Zakir
Hussain was a great scholar. He was a Vice Chancellor. When TVR Shenoy
approached him and told him “Rashtrapathiji, I congratulate you because it
is a great victory of secularism in India.” Zakir Hussain asked him in what
way it is a victory of secularism. Shenoy said that a Muslim became the
President of India is a great victory of secularism. Zakir Hussain looked at
him and smiled. TVR Shenoy asked “Why Rashtrapathiji, you are smiling at
me?” He answered – “Shenoy, I smiled hearing your notion about secularism.”
He said, and mark the next sentence – “Secularism will be achieved in India
only on that day when you do not know my religion!”

My dear friends, take it from me – secularism has nothing to do with
religion in this country. You should not know my religion in the same way I
shall not bother about your religion. That is your faith. And whatever way
you acquire it or develop it – it is your private matter. This is something
very much I learnt during my travel with Sudarsanji from Chennai to
Kottayam. He insisted on that. He told me that – “Sir, you can be a pious
Christian” I asked him in what way he knows that I am a pious Christian.
“That is a different matter”- He said. “But we are only insisting that
whatever be your faith, your primary commitment must be to this nation, to
this country.” On that matter I very much admire - I am a great admirer of
this organization.

The discipline exhibited everywhere - and even today - the manner in which
the flowers were offered to the Dhwaj gave me the real impression that
discipline has given real impetus to your working and performance.
Discipline is needed for a nation and discipline is fundamental to the
growth of a nation. Whichever nation has grown, you can see discipline is
inculcated in the citizens. I think, on that matter, Rashtriya Swayamsevak
Sangh is a model to me also.

Thank you very much.

thrikkunnappuzha ente gramam

namukku parayam , nammude gramathinte vikasanathe kurichu, samskarathe kurichu, janathaye kurichu

varoo....