OPINION | Thirupparankundram in Tamil Nadu is ground zero for the state’s political future

Thirupparankundram in Tamil Nadu. (Source: Flickr/creativecommons)

When the going gets tough, the weak get desperate. Religious right-wing outfits and the BJP have so far failed to make inroads into the psyche of the Tamil Nadu populace; but instead of changing tack, they are doubling down on communal polarisation as a mobilisation strategy.

With only months to go before the next assembly election, a pillar between a temple and a dargah is being set as the stage for religious mobilisation.

The Tamil Nadu government led by Chief Minister MK Stalin has resisted all efforts to communalise the issue and turn it into another Ayodhya-type dispute. The fight has now reached the Parliament and the Supreme Court.

It is a survey marker pillar on the Thirupparankundram hill, according to archaeologists, which was installed by the British, as they had done on many hills across the country, with a feature designed to hold a theodolite survey instrument used for geological measurements.

According to Hindu religious experts, temple priests and inscriptions in Uchipillaiyar Temple detailing lighting of the Karthigai Deepam lamp, the lamp has to be lit on the deepathoon (lamp pillar) at Uchipillaiyar Temple and there is no mention anywhere of the survey marker pillar as the deepathoon.

Yet, the complainant in the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court, Rama Ravikumar of the fringe outfit Hindu Tamilar Katch, and other right-wing cadre insisted on the lighting of the deepam lamp on the survey pillar. The judge concerned, Justice GK Swaminathan, coined the term ‘deepathoon’ for the survey pillar and directed that the deepam be lit on it.

C Shanthalingam, former assistant director of Tamil Nadu Archaeology Department, told Moneycontrol: “It is not at all a deepathoon, but a theodolite stone about 10 feet in height. There is already an established ancient deepathoon at Uchipillaiyar Temple and separate steps leading to it.”

The stone pillar in question is near the Hazrat Sultan Sikandar Badshah Dargah at the top of the hill, where there is also a mandapam.

There are three temples - the main Subramaniya (Murugan) Swami Temple at the foot of the hill, the Uchi Pillaiyar Temple at a higher level on the hill with the ancient deepathoon to light the Karthigai Deepam lamp at the required 90° sightline to the Subramaniya Temple tower and the third is the Kasi Viswanathar Temple.

The western side of the hill is studded with Jain relics and bas-reliefs and Tamil Brahmi inscriptions dating back to second century BC. There are three survey pillars - the second one, near the disputed pillar, is broken and the third is further down.

On Wednesday morning a seven-member team from Tamil Nadu Archaeology Department, led by its Deputy Director Yathish Kumar inspected the disputed pillar and the site.

“The fact of the matter is that the pillar is close to the dargah and can cause communal issues,” said DMK MP Kanimozhi, speaking to Moneycontrol. “You can't change a temple tradition just like that. If there is any change, it has to be decided by the temple authorities.” She noted that if the light has to be lit in a new place it needs preparations and safeguards as it is a huge fire that would be lit.

‘Ayodhya of the south’

Though there were controversies in the 20th century, before and after Independence, they were ironed out legally and different communities lived in harmony. But trouble began when, in 1994, fringe militant elements under the banner of Hindu Munnani led by Ramagopalan demanded that Karthigai Deepam be lit on the survey pillar near the Dargah. For the last 30 years Ramagopalan’s followers have been protesting at Thirupparankundram during every Karthigai Deepam festival and declaring that it was the Ayodhya of the south.

Hindu Munnani is now joined by Hindu Makkal Katchi, RSS, BJP cadre and many other religious right-wing representatives. They claim that the disputed survey pillar is an ancient original deepathoon and they want to revive the ‘ancient tradition’ by lighting the lamp on that pillar.

Reports from Thirupparankundram indicate that peace in the area is shattered every year during the Deepam festival even though people have never seen the Deepam lamp being lit on the ‘deepathoon’ near the Dargah, but only from the Uchi Pillaiyar Temple deepathoon.

Because of the turmoil in the area people are unable to run their businesses or open shops. Even the Deepam festivities at the Uchi Pillaiyar Temple becomes difficult because of the protests. People are staring at the possibility of communal polarisation, as those influenced by the communal rhetoric want the ‘jyoti’ to be lit at the summit of the hill near the Dargah.

On the day following Karthigai Deepam, several meetings were held in Madurai by both secular-thinking activists and right-wing activists to assess the situation and discuss a plan of action. “The awakening of Hindus in Tamil Nadu, I think, is enough to bring about the desired result,” RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat stated on Thursday (December 11) in Trichy.

Contesting the statement Kanimozhi retorted: “They are not the only Hindus. People living there (Thirupparankundram) are also Hindus. Our chief minister has done a lot for the temples in the state. Conducted kumbhabhishekams. Yet they call us anti-Hindu.”

Given the current political equations in the state, the BJP is in alliance with the AIADMK, which has been unable to get any other major party into the NDA fold. On the contrary some of the veterans in the AIADMK left the party to join other parties, including the ruling DMK, which has managed to keep its flock intact and alliance partners stable.

Under such circumstances, the BJP can only do well only by increasing its support base. But it could think of no better way to do so other than by communalising issues or doing an Ayodhya-type movement wherever possible.

To block these intentions, DMK has garnered the support of INDIA bloc to impeach Justice Swaminathan in the Parliament and also knocked at the door of the Supreme Court against the Madurai Bench judge.

What should have remained a claim to hold a ritual in a secular public space was transformed into a religious dispute, then a political conflict and is now turning into an executive-judiciary clash.