Tamil nadu IT Minister Mr Udayakumar in news – ‘bare footed’

In some ways, his claim that   “My devotion does not affect anyone. So there is no necessity for criticism." – sounds right but lot is expected from people holding high Offices.

The Hindu way of life advocates simplicity, humility and reverring good things.  In all our spiritual and religious practices, one should remain devout, pure and simple.  Not wearing foot steps is common when one performs any ritual.  It is believed that it sheds us of our egoes – barefootedness is a liberating and grounding experience.  The rough surface, uncomfortable paths  and sharp edges of  stones and improper place will not harm a devout person who is strong in mind.   The Sanskrit word for Foot is Pada, which means 'the point of contact with the Earth' and 'that which is a source of nourishment to the physical body'

Spiritualists believed that the feet could draw energy from the Earth almost as the roots of a tree and walking barefoot has been a custom.  In olden days people reverred hills and even when ascending the hills for darshan of Lord abode, they took permission from the hill for treading on it.  Such was their bakthi. 

Minister for Information Technology RB Udhayakumar was in the news for wrong reasons. Mr.  Udhayakumar is a first-time minister  elected from Sattur constituency in Virdhunagar district.  His priorities as a state IT minister, he said, “Under Amma’s guidance, Tamil Nadu will become the number one state in the country in information technology.” A law graduate, Udhayakumar hails from an AIADMK family. His father R Bose was AIADMK’s branch secretary in Madurai. Udhayakumar’s involvement with the party started at a young age.

Dravidian parties call themselves rationalists though many a times, many a leaders do follow rituals in private.  The AIADMK generally does not hide its beliefs.  Recently, there were news reports that the Minister for Information Technology RB Udhayakumar has been walking, around and attending to his duties - including meetings officials and industrialists – barefoot.  He went on record stating that it his devotion for Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa  that made him attend without any footwear at his workplace - the state secretariat.  He was quoted as saying :  “Amma  is God to me. She is God to all AIADMK men. Wherever Amma is present, the place is a temple for me,” Udhayakumar had said. “So I do not put on footwear at the secretariat.”  He further claimed that "I have been going without footwear for about a decade. No one noticed earlier. Now that Amma has given me a chance to work for society, people are looking at me differently," Udayakumar had stated.

Udayakumar's barefoot devotion seems to surprise many. Party cadres from across the state who come to visit him walk in with their slippers and then rush out to remove their footwear. But going barefoot seems a natural state of being for Udayakumar.

Read the first lines of this post again :  My devotion does not affect anyone. So there is no necessity for criticism."

The CM J Jayalalitha has rightly  put an end to all this news by ordering him to put on his footwear.  The Minister was quoted as saying that he would immediately obey her orders. The CM had told  him that while she respected his sentiments, she was of the view that he should put on his footwear”.

Quite often there are reports of bureaucrats and even men in uniform bending low to clean or put on the footwear of some politicians in power.  Looked in that angle,  what Mr. Udayakumar did is not to be ridiculed for it a decision of his own self not affecting others !

Regards – S. Sampathkumar.