RSS chief trying to create communal tension in TN: Congress on Bhagwat's temple remarks

New Delhi, Dec 11 (PTI) The Congress accused the RSS on Thursday of trying to create communal tension in Tamil Nadu and said no interference will be allowed in the age-old practices of the Hindu temples in the southern state.

The retort came a day after Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat said the Thiruparankundram issue in Tamil Nadu can be resolved in the state itself on the basis of the strength of the Hindus.

"The Thiruparankundram issue, if it needs escalation, it will be done. That matter is now sub-judice. Let it get resolved," Bhagwat said in Tiruchirappalli on Wednesday.

Reacting strongly to his remarks, Congress leader Manickam Tagore said, "All of us know that Mohan Bhagwatji wants to create communal tension in Tamil Nadu, because the RSS likes creating communal tension, burning houses, villages, streets, towns, cities." "Its main work is to spread communal divide. It wants to do the same in Tamil Nadu. I hope that Tamil Nadu rejects the idea of violence," Tagore told PTI Videos outside the Parliament building.

Congress leader Karti Chidambaram said the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its allies do not understand Tamil Nadu.

"Tamil Nadu and the people of Tamil Nadu are perhaps the most Hindu of all people, including me. We are temple-going, orthodox, ritualistic people. We attend our temples in a manner which is familiar to us. It is only when outsiders interfere in our practices and try to introduce customs that are not part of our rituals that these issues crop up.

"People of various faiths have lived in great harmony around the Tirupparangunram temple and the rituals which have always been followed in Tirupparangunram will continue to be followed. Any interference from outside agencies, outside organisations will be rejected," Chidambaram told PTI Videos.

Responding to a query from the audience at the "100 years of Sangh Journey -- New Horizons" event in Tiruchirapalli -- on whether the RSS should take up the Thiruparankundram issue to the national level -- Bhagwat said, "The awakening of Hindus in Tamil Nadu, I think it is enough to bring about the desired results." "But if at all it is needed, the Hindu organisations are working here in Tamil Nadu also. They will let us know. Then we will think about it," he added.

"At present, I think the issue can be resolved here only on the basis of the Hindus' strength in Tamil Nadu," the RSS chief said.

"We will not need to escalate it. But one thing is pakka (for sure), that the issue will be resolved favourably for Hindus," he noted.

The DMK-led Tamil Nadu government has moved the Supreme Court against a Madras High Court order allowing devotees of the Arulmigu Subramaniya Swamy temple to light the traditional "Karthigai Deepam lamp" at "Deepathoon", a stone lamp pillar located on the Thiruparankundram hillock close to a dargah near Madurai. PTI SKC RC