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Thiruparankundram Row: Bharatiya Janata Party leader K Annamalai on Friday slammed DMK government over the Thiruparankundram issue, saying the holy place is in trouble. Annamalai, while addressing a press conference in Chennai, said Thiruparankundram, one of the six abodes of Lord Murugan, is in trouble now only because of the DMK government.

"In the last year, if you look at the DMK government's record, they allowed a fringe Muslim group to rename the hill as Sikandar Hill. They allowed fringe Muslim Islamic groups to take goats to the top of that hill and cut them there. They allowed a sitting MP from Ramanathapuram to go to that hilltop temple and eat chicken biryani. Whatever insult these groups were offering, the DMK government was enjoying it because it benefited them politically," the BJP leader alleged.

Politics Over Karthigai Deepam Row

Now the Madurai bench of the Madras High Court has a very clear-cut direction for a batch of petitions led by Rama Ravikumar, that on Karthigai Deepam, which fell on December 3 this year, the petitioners are fully within their rights to go and light up the Karthigai Deepam in a place called Deepathoon, which is slightly above the temple, he added.

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Karthigai Deepam (also known as Karthika Deepam or Karthigai Vilakkidu) is one of the oldest Hindu festivals celebrated in Tamil Nadu. It falls on the full moon day in the Tamil month of Karthigai (November–December), when the moon is in the Karthigai (Krittika) Nakshatra. In 2025, Karthigai Deepam was celebrated on December 4.

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"In 1920, when the first original suit was filed during British rule, the demarcation was made very clear in the 1923 verdict that the Islamic community will enjoy the Dargah, a burial ground, and the staircases, in the area Nellithope, and the rest of the hillock belongs to the temple of Lord Murugan. When this was challenged in the Madras High Court, the case went all the way to the Privy Council in 1930. The Privy Council also endorsed the Madurai local court's judgmentthe ," he cited court's ruling to support his statement.

Now that this is established law, the DMK government is trying to add fuel to the fire by creating division between communities by failing to obey the government court's order, he asserted.

"For the last hundred years, the Karthigai Deepam has not been lit on Deepathoon. It is happening slightly more below in a place called Ucchi Pillayar. Now, the court has given a direction this year. The local police and the temple's executive officer did not obey the court's direction. On 3rd December, Justice GR Swaminathan, who gave the initial judgment, took a contempt of court petition. Again, the petitioner went on the third evening to light the Karthigai Deepam and was again stopped by the police," Annamalai said.

This was challenged on 4 December before a division bench with two judges and the division bench clearly said a contempt is there and the judge is well within his rights to send CISF, he said, adding that on the 4th, once again, the petitioners attempted to climb the hillock; again, they were prevented by the police.

"They arrested many leaders and cadres, including our state president, Nainar Nagendran. All this illegality is happening right in front of people's eyes. Even now, the Hindu community, the petitioners are maintaining restraint. As of now, no one from the Dargah has come to object. It is the executive officer who is opposing the judge's judgment. The executive officer's duty is to protect the temple premises," the BJP leaders siad.
(With ANI Inputs)

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