Thiruparankundram villagers stage hunger strike seeking Deepam lighting atop the hilltop lamp pillar

MADURAI: The villagers of Thiruparankundram participated in a hunger strike in Madurai on Saturday, seeking lighting of a deepam atop the hilltop lamp pillar.

The residents of the area also raised Lord Murugan flags at their homes in solidarity.

Meanwhile, BJP MP Anurag Thakur slammed the DMK government in Tamil Nadu over the Madurai Karthigai Deepam row, calling the state a “symbol of anti-Sanatan Dharma.”

Speaking during Zero Hour in Lok Sabha, Anurag Thakur alleged a lathi-charge by the DMK government against the devotees protesting to light the lamp atop the hill.

He said, “I want to raise a very important issue where one state in India has become a symbol of anti-Sanatan Dharma. Their ministers are making statements against Sanatan Dharma. They opposed when the Prime Minister performed the Pran Pratishtha of Lord Ram in Ayodhya. People were forced to approach the court to reach the temple.”

The Madurai bench of the Madras High Court strongly criticised the Tamil Nadu government, accusing officials of deliberately ignoring its order to light the Karthigai Deepam lamp at Madurai’s Thiruparankundram temple. Hindus are lathi-charged. Why are Hindus stopped?” he added.

Further, Thakur demanded an immediate apology from the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, MK Stalin and called upon the Union Government to take cognisance of the matter.

Earlier, the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court had directed that the petitioner, along with ten others, be permitted to go up to the Deepam pillar on the Thirupparankundram hilltop to light the Karthigai Deepam. The Presiding judge, Justice GR Swaminathan, instructed state authorities to ensure that the sacred lamp was lit atop the hill; however, Tamil Nadu government officials maintained that this violated the longstanding practice of lighting the lamp at the nearby Deepa Mandapam, a ritual observed for several years.

As a result, Justice Swaminathan’s move drew criticism from the DMK-led Tamil Nadu government, which accused the judge of being “biased.”

Following the judgment, over 100 INDIA bloc MPs from the Lok Sabha submitted a letter to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla regarding an impeachment motion against Justice Swaminathan.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah accused the Opposition parties of “appeasement” politics, criticising their move to impeach Justice GR Swaminathan.

“This has never happened in all the years after independence that a judge is facing impeachment for delivering a judgment. They brought the impeachment to appease their vote bank,” he said. (ANI)