Sun News Editor-in-Chief M. Gunasekaran appears to be attempting to create a controversy after claiming that Madras High Court judge Justice GR Swaminathan insulted non-believers at a recent public event, seemingly distorting the judge’s words to manufacture outrage.
Gunasekaran wrote on social media that “Madras High Court Justice GR Swaminathan called those who do not believe in spiritual gurus or the power of God ‘rascals, fools and barbarians’ at a public event.”
However, a closer reading of Justice Swaminathan’s full speech at the Guru Vandana event in Hosur tells a very different story.
What Justice GR Swaminathan Said
The Madurai Bench judge was speaking at a programme organised to honour Udupi Pejawar Mutt seer Vishwaprasanna Theertha Swamiji, where he delivered a strongly worded defence of India’s guru tradition and criticised what he termed “fake rationalism.”
During the speech, Justice Swaminathan narrated a personal late-night highway incident to explain the spiritual role of the Guru. Recalling the tense moment when his car broke down in heavy fog, he said he repeatedly uttered “Gurunatha, Gurunatha…” and described the Guru as the living presence of God in moments of helplessness.
The controversy hinges on his subsequent remark: “Now in Tamil Nadu, some people who call themselves ‘rationalists’, call us immoral, foolish and barbaric because we see the Guru as the embodiment of God. I say, those who say so are the ones who are immoral, foolish and barbaric.”
Selective Framing By Gunasekaran
Gunasekaran’s version strips away the crucial context that Justice Swaminathan was responding to those who abuse believers and instead presents it as though the judge attacked all non-believers.
This is yet another instance of how the DMK’s mouthpiece and its minions cleverly twist the judge’s words to inflame sentiment and create avoidable controversy around a sitting High Court judge.
The speech clearly shows the judge was pushing back against what he called derision from certain rationalist quarters, not issuing a blanket denunciation of people who do not believe in God or gurus.
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