Jain saint uses wit to prick conscience of politicians

Pradeep Sharma

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, August 26

It was a different type of ‘pathshala’ for the Haryana legislators on the first day of the monsoon session of the state Assembly. Famous Jain saint Muni Shri Tarun Sagar Ji Maharaj tried to prick politicians’ conscience while calling upon them to wage a battle against social ills afflicting society.

In his discourse, the first by a religious preacher in Haryana’s legislative history, the muni took potshots at the politicians for their alleged failure to check female foeticide and corruption, soft policy against terrorism vis-à-vis Pakistan and criminalisation of politics.

Spicing up his discourse with anecdotes and jokes, the saint, known for his ‘kadve pravachan’ (harsh discourse), used his inimitable wit and barbs to drive home his point while urging the society to stand up against social evils. “We will have to change our minds…the society will not change for us,” he asserted.

In fact, in his 45-minute discourse from the Speaker’s Gallery, the saint touched a variety of issues amid thundering applause from the members cutting across party lines. Haryana Governor Kaptan Singh Solanki was a special invitee to the discourse.

Though MLAs, including Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, Education Minister Ram Bilas Sharma, former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Leader of the Congress Legislature Party Kiran Chaudhry and Zakir Hussain (INLD) heaped praise on the ‘national saint’, politicians were at the receiving end of his discourse which he occasionally enlivened by poking fun at them.

Meanwhile, talking to reporters outside Vidhan Sabha, the Muni said Chief Minster Manohar Lal Khattar was being blamed for saffronising politics with the “kadve pravachan” programme in Vidhan Sabha. In fact, it is the purification of politics in real terms rather than saffronisation, he asserted.