The conduct of propaganda outlet The Wire, which is headed by American Siddharth Varadarajan, has been atrocious for a very long time. Its track record of spreading fake news is second to none. It is not due to incompetence alone but sheer malice towards the Hindu community. If it were only incompetence, then a fair share of its propaganda would have been in favour of Hindus as well. But that hasn’t ever been the case. And the extent of its malice is such that The Wire has not abandoned its propaganda even in the wake of heinous mob lynching of two Sadhus associated with the Juna Akhara at Palghar in Maharashtra.
The Wire doubts the Hindu identity of the Sadhus
In its report on the incident, The Wire insinuated that the Sadhus were not Hindus at all. They claimed that social media was quick to ‘identify him as a Hindu and Sadhu’ and said that ‘however’, “two of the deceased belonged to the nomadic tribal community and were part of a religious sect affiliated with an akhaara or a religious group in Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh.” What The Wire attempts to hide here is that the Juna Akhara is an explicity Hindu ascetic order and there can be no misinterpretation about it under any circumstances unless one is motivated by malice to state otherwise.
As it turns out, it is precisely the polar opposite of what The Wire had itself said about the Juna Akhara in its earlier report. The inconsistency is so blatant that there is not even a scope for any defense here.
What The Wire said about Juna Akhara in the past
In February last year, during the Kumbh Mela, 32-year-old Kanhaiya Prabhu Nandgiri, formerly a resident of Azamgarh from the Dalit community, attained his position as a mahamandaleshwar of the Juna Akhara. By all accounts, it was a momentous occasion worthy of much celebration but The Wire, obviously, was not pleased. It called the Juna Akhara a ‘Brahminical ascetic order’ and implied that it was a ploy of Hindutva forces to consolidate the Dalit vote bank ahead of the General Elections that were to occur later that year.
Thus, an institution that is a ‘Brahminical ascetic order’ when it elevates a person from the Dalit community to an important position loses its Hindu identity, as per The Wire, when two Sadhus associated with it become victims of a brutal mob lynching. The hypocrisy of it all and its malice is quite astounding for the sheer audacity of it alone.
What it tells us about The Wire and the Liberal Establishment
Quite clearly, the allegiance of The Wire, or the liberal establishment for that matter, is not to truth or objectivity. Truth, honesty, integrity do not matter in the liberal world. The only thing that matters here is the concerted campaign against the Hindu community. Facts can easily be twisted to fit the narrative. Facts that don’t suit the narrative are merely a minor inconvenience one has to work around. Because the larger objective is not to report objectively on events. The larger objective, the only objective, is to constantly undermine the interests of the Hindu Community.
There can be no doubt that the Juna Akhara is Hindu, it’s abundantly clear when one mere glances through the website of Baba Rampuri, one of the most prominent faces of the Juna Akhara. And no amount of propaganda by The Wire The Liar could ever change that fact. The malicious agenda of The Wire is so evident that a Hindu organization like Juna Akhara is decreed to be non-Hindu and that too, after the merciless lynching of two of its sadhus.
What is the Juna Akhara, the organisation that the two Sadhus, victims of the mob-lynching in Palghar, belonged to?
According to the website, “With more than 400,000 sannyasi members, Juna Akhara is by far the largest order of sadhus in India, today, the vast majority are Naga Babas. They have been called the defenders of the Sanatan Dharma. The word Naga, in this case, is derived from the Sanskrit word, nagna, meaning “naked.” And indeed Naga Babas are known for marching naked, covered with ashes, during the colorful sacred bathing rites at the Kumbh Mela.” To be clear, this is the same organization, which The Wire tells its reader is not Hindu. And no, this is not a joke.
The Juna Akhara traces its origin to Adi Shankaracharya himself, one of greatest Hindu philosophers and theologian, the promulgator of the doctrine of Advaita Vedanta. The websites states, “In the 7th century A.D., 52 lineages within the Order of Sannyasis formalized their age-old network into an elite brotherhood, a society, that was known originally as Dattatreya Akhara, then Bhairon Akhara, and after other new akharas were formed, it simply became known as Juna Akhara, the “old” akhara (as juna means “old” in Gujarati Language), or the “Ancient Circle”.”
About its administration, it says that the Juna Akhara does not resemble modern religious or spiritual organizations but is a traditional society. “Juna Akhara is a traditional society in which the sadhu families of the 52 lineages are represented by their acknowledged elders in a grand council of the akhara, which in turn is represented by elected Secretaries and a Sabhapati (President). Once elected to any position, the appointment is for life,” it says.
It adds, “The decisions of the greater and ruling councils have to do with the operation of the society as a whole, not with the functioning or behaviour of a lineage, family, or individual. All matters are divided into two main categories, “samaj“, dealing with the society as a whole affecting all, and “ghar”, that which relates to a sadhu family. These council members are all Naga Babas.”
