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Calcutta Ratha Yatra Restores Citizens' Faith in ISKCON
By Sudipto Mukerji

Dear CHAKRA ,

Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

I was extremely surprised to read about the articles on your website challenging the report of His Holiness Bhakti Caru Swami that Calcutta Rathayatra was successful. With due respect to the authors of those articles, I must say that they are painfully ignorant of the background of this year's Rathayatra in Calcutta which must have led them to write such inaccurate reports. As such, I feel that it is high time that we set the records straight.

ISKCON Bureau in India suspended Adridharan Das on 2nd March 2001 for his anti ISKCON activities. He went to the Calcutta high Court challenging the bureau meeting for his suspension but Hon'ble Justice Dilip Seth of Calcutta High Court rejected his prayer for ad interim injunction. Adridharan appealed this order in the division bench where again his prayer for injunction was turned down.

After his suspension Adridharan went again to the Calcutta high court asking for a stay on the suspension but Hon'ble Justice Bhaskar Bhattacharya refused to grant him any interim stay order. He appealed to the division bench but they upheld the judgement of the single bench. Thus Adridharan das lost no less than four times in the Calcutta High Court over the issue of his suspension.

I would like to point out that these are all statements of fact and should satisfy the so called "scrupulously honest" lobby who seem to think that it is only the Gurus who have to prove their honesty whereas others can get away by saying whatever nonsense they want. I would also like to point out that after having lost in the ISKCON bureau as well as in the courts several times over, Adridharan Das has no legal, moral or ethical right to continue as the President of ISKCON's branch at 3C, Albert Road in Calcutta. Is it worthy of a gentleman, let alone a Vasihnava, to cling to his chair in such a way? Unfortunately our great critics are conspicuously silent on these issues. If these are the benchmark of ISKCON reformers, then I think that the time has come to seriously consider whether we would rather have mismanagement in ISKCON than have branch presidents who refuse to quit according to the established norms of the civilized society.

On 2nd April 2001, the bureau chairman appointed an eight-member committee to run the administration of the ISKCON temple at 3C, Albert Road Calcutta. When these authorized committee members took charge of the temple along with some devotees from Mayapur, Adridharan mislead the police into arresting the devotees and openly insulted Bhakti Caru Swami and Jayapataka Swami, falsely claiming, among other things, that they had sent "thugs" from Mayapur to capture the temple. It may also be put on record here that apart from the Mayapur devotees a number of congregation members as well as distinguished life members from Calcutta were also insulted and heckled by Adridharan das and his people.

It seems that defaming senior devotees through newspaper advertisements and insulting life members and congregation devotees are an integral part of the reform agenda - a proposition that would hardly do credit to Srila Prabhupada and his movement.

In this context, I would also like to point out that ever since this incident Adridharan Das has been repeatedly making statements that the Calcutta temple was "attacked" by "thugs" from Mayapur. However, the fact remains that devotees of Mayapur, who were inside the temple for such a long period and also outnumbered Adridharan and his people 3:1 (by his own admission), would have beaten Adridharan and his men to pulp if they were indeed "thugs" or if they had any violent intentions.

Far from violence, the devotees were running the temple normally, continuing with all temple programs like Mangal Arati, Darshan Arati etc. There are more than seventy devotee witnesses to this statement. Actually, when the devotees were performing kirtan in the temple room, the police, mislead by Adridharan das, entered the temple room with shoes and forcefully arrested the devotees and life members from there and took them to the Police custody, threatening them with sticks as they protested. It is indeed shameful that on the next day, Adridhran Das thanked the police publicly for this brutal act. Once again, we have to ask ourselves whether such activities by his temple President would have found favor with Srila Prabhupada.

Adridharan Das applied to the Commissioner of Police, Calcutta, asking for the Rathayatra land and route permission knowing fully well that he was under suspension. When the committee set up by the Bureau Chairman also applied to the commissioner for permission, the Police, after making a thorough investigation into the matter granted the permission to the authorized committee while rejecting the application of Adridharan Das.

Immediately, Adridharan challenged the decision of the Police in the Calcutta high court but Hon'ble Justice Prabir Samanta upheld the decision of the Police Commissioner. As usual, Adridharan appealed to the division bench and the division bench headed by the Chief Justice once again ruled in favor of the Police clearly stating that Adridharan Das should not interfere in any manner with the arrangement of the Ratha Yatra.

It will be very clear from the above details that all along it was Adridharan who was trying to sabotage the Calcutta ratha Yatra by trying to get the court to interfere in every step. His lawyers were even saying that in the worst case, a receiver be appointed by the court to conduct the Calcutta Ratha Yatra.

Correct me if I am wrong, but I don't think that Srila Prabhupada would have relished the idea of his suspended temple president asking the court to intervene and appoint it's officers to conduct Ratha Yatra. So much for the great reformer of Srila Prabhupada's movement. Srila Prabhupada in several purports, had abundantly made clear his dislike for going to court for settling internal disputes saying that in this age of Kali one cannot get justice in courts. He also pointed out several times how, within three days of the disappearence of Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur, his displcles had ruined the Gaudiya math by going to courts and that we should guard against such situations in ISKCON. A sincere follower of Srila Prabhupada is at least expected to abide by these basic instructions- what is the use of reforming ISKCON when we use Prabhupada's instruction only as it suits us?

The final verdict of the court was delivered about 48 hours before the start of the Ratha Yatra. Adridharan das had collected funds for Calcutta Rathayatra and printed his Ratha Yatra souvenir and distributed, by his own admission, hundreds of copies. His lawyers were openly saying in court that they have even completed the cooking arrangements. Under such situation, can any sane person believe that the Rath Carts were not ready when the Court verdict was delivered, barely 48 ours prior to Ratha Yatra? How is it then that when the devotees went to get the carts as per the court order, they found them broken? I will leave it to the readers to understand the cause and effect, as I do not want to undermine their intelligence by drawing the obvious conclusion. I hope that "scrupulously honest" seekers of truth are taking note of my statements.

It is in this background that the Calcutta rathayatra 2001 has to be understood. Adridharan had taken the donations for rathayatra, he had allegedly broken the carts and he was giving ambiguous information to the press thus confusing the public about Ratha Yatra.

Actually Bhakti Caru Mahararaja is a gentleman to the core and an extremely tolerant Vaishnava. That is why he has spared Adridhran Das of further humiliation by omitting to mention that in addition to the Carts, Adridharan also had allegedly broken the seven floats that were in his custody at ISKCON property on 22 Gurusaday Road.

On the eve of Rathayatra, when the devotees went to get the floats, (which depicted various pastimes of Krishna) from the above property, they found that all of them have been cut off from their base. So I think that we need not seek for more proof as regards sabotage.

Due to all these activities of Adridharan Das, the people of Calcutta were fed up with ISKCON and the congregation members had lost all faith in the management. Due to all the false propaganda, lot of people in Calcutta thought that there will be no Ratha Yatra this year. However the very fact that the Rathyatra has been organized so successfully has restored people's faith in ISKCON to a great extent.

For the sake of Srila Prabhupada’s Movement in Calcutta, it is time we establish a transparent and honest administration here and get rid of all the controversial and self-proclaimed pseudo-protectors of the Movement.

Anyone who seeks to support such people are only playing into the hands of Kali and helping to destroy Srila Prabhupada's movement in his own city. If they are not careful, Srila Prabhpada will never forgive them.

Your servant,
Sudipto Mukerji

© CHAKRA 29-Nov-2003

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