Oppn's stand on lighting lamp at Madurai temple nefarious attack on India's basic identity: BJP

New Delhi, Dec 13 (PTI) The BJP on Saturday alleged that the opposition parties' stand on the issue of lighting a traditional lamp at a hilltop temple near Madurai in Tamil Nadu is not just vote-bank politics but a “structural nefarious attack” on the “basic identity” of India.

It is also a “serious blow” to India's “democratic and secular character”, the BJP charged.

The BJP’s attack follows several opposition MPs, led by the DMK, submitting a notice to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla to move a motion for the removal of Madras High Court Judge G R Swaminathan, whose order directing the Subramaniya Swamy temple authorities to ensure that a lamp is lit at the ‘deepathoon’ (pillar) in Madurai district triggered a row.

“A motion for impeachment was submitted to the Lok Sabha speaker to intimidate the judge. While Rahul Gandhi is directly attempting to threaten constitutional institutions, his alliance partners and members of the INDI alliance are collectively trying to intimidate the judiciary,” BJP national spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi told reporters here.

The high court had clearly stated that only 10 people would be allowed to go near the pillar and light lamps, but the Tamil Nadu government's lawyer argued in court that “first it has to be established whether the pillar even existed and whether it held any religious significance”, Trivedi said.

“This is not being done merely for votes; it is an attack on India's identity. This is not just vote-bank politics but a structural and insidious attack on the very essence of India,” the BJP Rajya Sabha MP alleged.

The kind of atmosphere created by the INDIA bloc partners towards the judge clearly shows how much the Constitution is in danger when these people are in the opposition, he added.

The BJP leader also alleged that the DMK government in Tamil Nadu is trying to “confuse people and incite communal frenzy” in the name of securing minority votes to divert public attention from its “administrative failures and widespread corruption”.

“The BJP will not allow these efforts to extinguish the flame of Hinduism to succeed at any cost. Not just Tamil Nadu but the entire country is watching these developments, and they will give a fitting response at an appropriate time,” Trivedi said.

The row over lighting a traditional lamp at the hilltop temple near Madurai erupted after the local administration allegedly prevented several devotees from performing the traditional ritual, and police arrested Tamil Nadu BJP chief Nainar Nagenthran, among others, on Thursday.

Nagenthran and other devotees gathered at the spot to perform the traditional ritual after the Madurai bench of the Madras High Court declined to stay the order of a single judge allowing the lighting of the lamp at a stone pillar on the Thirupparankundram hill, which houses the Lord Subramaniya Swamy temple.

On December 1, a single-judge bench of Justice Swaminathan held that the Arulmighu Subramania Swamy temple was duty-bound to light the lamp at the ‘deepathoon’, an ancient stone lamp pillar located on the Thiruparankundram hillock near a dargah.

The bench 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 to light the lamp and directed the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) to ensure their protection.

The Tamil Nadu government has approached the Supreme Court against the high court's order. PTI PK ARI