DMK, BJP members face-off in LS over 'Karthigai Deepam' at Madurai temple

New Delhi, Dec 5 (PTI) The issue of lighting of a traditional lamp at a hilltop temple near Madurai rocked the Lok Sabha on Friday, with DMK leader T R Baalu accusing the BJP of trying to "ignite" communal tensions in Tamil Nadu and Union Minister L Murugan hitting back at the Tamil Nadu government for "denying the right to worship".

DMK members stormed the Well of the Lok Sabha and tried to raise the issue of the lighting of the 'Karthigai Deepam' at the stone lamp pillar on the Tirrupparankundram hillock near Madurai and forced the adjournment of the Question Hour.

Raising the issue during Zero Hour, Baalu accused the BJP of trying to "ignite" communal tension in Tamil Nadu and claimed that the Madras High Court judge, who permitted lighting of the lamp at the stone lamp pillar 'Deepathoon' on the Tirrupparankundram hillock, owed allegiance to a particular ideology.

"Who should light the deepam on the hill? Whether the Hindu Religious Endowment Board representative or some miscreants who have got a judgement from a Madras High Court's judge?" asked Baalu.

Baalu's reference to the high court judge's ideology drew a sharp riposte from Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju, who asserted that the DMK leader cannot cast aspersions on the judiciary and urged the chair to delete the remarks.

Hitting out at the DMK, BJP leader and Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs L Murugan accused the Tamil Nadu government of denying the right to worship to devotees at the Arulmighu Subramaniya Swamy Temple.

As Murugan was speaking, some DMK members walked up to the seat of Rijiju, prompting TDP member Krishna Prasad Tenneti, who was in the chair, to appeal to protesting members to confine themselves to the Well.

"The state government is targeting a particular community and law and order of that region is being vitiated," Murugan said in Tamil.

Murugan said the Tamil Nadu Police had arrested devotees, who were proceeding to the temple to light the 'Karthigai Deepam' at Tirrupparankundram as per the orders of the Madras High Court and escorted by the CISF personnel.

"The Tamil Nadu Police stopped the worshippers and even arrested them. The Tamil Nadu BJP president too has been arrested," the union minister said.

The Supreme Court on Friday agreed to consider hearing a plea of the Tamil Nadu government challenging a Madras High Court order permitting devotees of the Arulmighu Subramaniya Swamy Temple to light traditional 'Karthigai Deepam lamp' at 'Deepathoon', a stone lamp pillar located on the Thiruparankundram hillock close to a dargah.

The Madurai bench of the Madras High Court on Thursday dismissed an intra-court appeal filed by the Madurai district collector and the city police commissioner, upholding a single-judge order that allowed devotees to light the Karthigai Deepam lamp at the Deepathoon.

On December 1, a single judge bench of Justice G R Swaminathan had held that the Arulmighu Subramania Swamy Temple was duty-bound to light the lamp at the Deepathoon, in addition to the customary lighting near the Uchi Pillaiyar Mandapam.

It had said that doing so would not encroach upon the rights of the adjacent dargah or the Muslim community.

When the order remained unimplemented, the single judge passed another order on December 3 permitting devotees themselves to light the lamp and directed the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) to ensure their protection. PTI SKU SKU DV DV