Hindutva organisations in Tamil Nadu put up their biggest ever show of strength with lakhs of people turning up from across the state for the Murugan Devotees Conference in Madurai, on Sunday, June 22. The event was the culmination of several months of agitations by the Hindu Munnani and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) demanding complete control over Thirupparankundram hill in Madurai which they describe as the ‘Ayodhya struggle of the South’. The hill also has a centuries old Sufi shrine and a mosque.
In place of the Jai Sri Ram slogan, which came to symbolise the Ayodhya movement, ‘Muruganuku Aro Hara’ and ‘Vetrivel Veeravel’ have become the battle cry of the Hindutva mobilisation around the Thiruparakundram agitation. Aro Hara, an invocation to lord Muruga, is another version of Ara Hara Hara chanted by Shiva devotees in the North.
Andhra Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan and K Annamalai, the former Tamil Nadu BJP chief, were the star attractions at the event. The actor turned politician and the former IPS officer delivered fiery speeches, drawing rapturous applause and chants of Aro Hara. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath skipped the event but posters of the Hindutva firebrand were all over the city and the venue.
Six resolutions were passed in the conference urging Hindus to unite to prove their vote bank during the elections. Other resolutions demanded lighting of Karthigai Deepam at Thirupurkundram hill, protecting the hills that belong to Lord Murugan and removing all government control over the administration of temples in Tamil Nadu. Participants were also asked to take an oath to not allow religious conversions in their area.
Pawan Kalyan, who delivered the speech in Tamil, made an interesting reference to the Pasumpon Mutthuramalinga Thevar, the controversial icon of the dominant Mukalathor community in the Madurai region.
“South Tamil Nadu’s biggest leader Pasumpon Muthuramalinga Thevar is considered an incarnation of Lord Murugan. There is a peacock near his statue,” Kalyan said, sending the crowd into a tizzy. Peacock is considered the vehicle of Murugan. Supporters of Thevar were accused of unleashing a wave of terror on Dalits during the 1957 Mudakalathur riots.
Pawan Kalyan also raised concern about what he sees as a skewed understanding of secularism in India. He said that while expressions of identity and pride are encouraged in other religions, Hindu culture and deities are often ridiculed or treated with suspicion. “A Muslim can proudly be a Muslim, a Christian can follow their faith without fear, but when a Hindu tries to be a Hindu, it becomes an issue. This is the unfortunate truth of our so-called secularism today,” he said.
This story was originally published in thenewsminute.com. Read the full story here.
