Dismissal of TN's Thiruparankundram petition welcomed by BJP; DMK calls it 'setback' for Hindus

Madurai (Tamil Nadu), Dec 3 (PTI) The BJP on Thursday welcomed the Madurai bench of the Madras High Court declining to interfere an earlier judgment on the Thiruparankundram issue and dismiss the appeal of the Tamil Nadu government on the matter while the ruling DMK called it a "setback for Hindus".

Following a standoff between a section of devotees and Thiruparankundram temple management, a single-judge Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on December 3 directed the petitioner to light a lamp on an ancient stone pillar near a Dargah on the Thiruparankundram hill here on the occasion of Karthigai Deepam on Wednesday, with CISF protection.

However, the Tamil Nadu government not only stopped the lighting of the lamp by issuing a prohibitory order under Section 163 of the BNSS, but also contested the judgment of Justice G R Swaminathan.

Former MP and senior DMK leader T K S Elangovan said the Hindus who worship Murugan at Thiruparankundram "have been humiliated".

"I truly see this as a setback for the Hindu people living in Thiruparankundram. I see it as an action that goes against what those people have been following for ages," he added.

He claimed that the locals did not like outsiders coming and creating confusion.

"When the police drove those outsiders away, I saw the scenes of them clapping and welcoming it. All of them are Hindus, Murugan devotees. For them, I see this only as a setback," Elangovan stated.

Chief spokesperson of the Tamil Nadu BJP, Narayanan Thirupathy, called Thursday's decision of the court as "a crushing blow to the Dravidian model of the Tamil Nadu government".

"Not only did it commit contempt of court, but the DMK government is silently watching while its alliance partners -- Communist Party of India state secretary Shanmugam @Shanmugamcpim and Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi leader Thol Thirumavalavan @thirumaofficial -- made derogatory and low-level personal attacks against the Honourable judge who delivered the verdict," Thirupathy posted on his official X account.

He also demanded that all those who were arrested while fighting for justice at Thirupparankundram must be released at once, and the cases filed against them must be withdrawn.

Speaking to PTI Videos, senior BJP party leader and former governor of Telangana, Tamilisai Soundararajan, said the Tamil Nadu government should have taken the verdict in a positive way.

"It has been the ritual for hundreds of years. The Hindu religious leaders appealed for it because it is our right and the government should have given protection," said Soundarajan.

Speaking to reporters after Thursday's hearing, lawyer representing petitioner Rama Ravikumar said no Muslim has raised any objection in the court on Thursday.

"In 2005, the Dargah management committee itself wrote in a peace committee meeting that they had no objection to the lamp being lit within 15 metres," added the petitioner's counsel.

He added that now that Justice Swaminathan’s order has been fully confirmed, the lamp will be lit in the Tamil month of Karthigai.

On Thursday, a bench led by Justice G Jayachandran and Justice K K Ramakrishnan declined to interfere with the order of Justice Swaminathan allowing the lighting of the lamp on the hill. PTI JR JR SA