Mohan Rao in The Voice of People Awakening, February, 2000
It is amazing how selective the members of the Sangh Parivar, those self-appointed custodians and protectors of Hinduismi are ... The film Water apparently was attacked because it showed a widow in Kashi as a prostitute. That was an insult to Hinduism. But we have yet to hear of Sangh Parivar or their UP government taking any action to protect the real widows in Kashi, Mathura and Vrindavan ...
Actually, the highly exploited condition of Varanasi's widows has been an old state of affairs, even immortalised in the late 191h novels of Tagore and Saratchandra Chattopadhyaya. What is shocking is that it still persists. The situation is fostered by the property laws of north India, which unlike the southern states, do not give any share in a deceased man's property to his widow. All of his property either goes to his sons or, if he has no sons, to his brothers. The wife thus becomes pauperised and is regarded as a burden on her sons or brothers-in-law after he husband's death. But our self -styled protectors of Hinduism feel no reason to remedy these laws, nor do they feel the need to institute any government financial schemes for destitute widows, as states like Tamil Nadu have done. And nor do they want to take action against the abuses the widows face in Kashi. But had they been around a century ago, they would no doubt have drummed Tagore and Saratchandra out of town, to protect Hinduism. There are many more examples of how Hinduism is being concretely misused and abused across the country ...
(Many) sadhus are criminals or anti-social elements in saffron, greedy, lustful and capable of anything. The focus is of course the huge properties owned by the temples and ashrams, and even more important, their annual collections from pilgrims ... What is more, many of the sadhus are actual fugitives from the law, as ashrams allow them anonymity or a new identity ... So, where is the Sangh Parivar? Is all this not a massive and direct abuse of Hinduism? When dacoities, property battles and even murders are taking place under the cloak of saffron robes, and actually within the temples of a sacred city, where are our self-styled protectors of Hindu sentiments? Or, are these anti-social swamis the Hindus whom they are protecting.
