Annamalai reiterates demand to free temples from HR&CE dept

Chennai: BJP state president K Annamalai on Monday reiterated his demand that temples in Tamil Nadu be freed from the control of the Hindu Religious & Charitable Endowments (HR & CE) department.Condemning HR and CE minister P K Sekar Babu for “his silence” at a recent conference titled ‘annihilation of Sanatana dharma’ where sports minister Udhayanidhi Stalin spoke about “eradicating Sanatana Dharma” and compared it to dengue, malaria and Covid, the BJP state unit carried out state-wide protests and gherao of HR and CE offices. Later in the day, Annamalai participated in the protest in Valluvar Kottam in Chennai and later in a road roko. During the protest, Annamalai questioned the need for temples remaining under the control of the HR and CE department. “The Tamil Nadu government should no longer control temples. With such a minister in charge of the department, does Tamil Nadu need a HR and CE department to control temples” said Annamalai. Interacting with reporters at the Madurai airport, Annamalai described UP godman Mahant Paramahans Das, who announced a 10 crore bounty on Udhayanidhi's head, as “a fake godman”. The TN BJP, which has a temple development wing, has, for long, been demanding that the state government free temples HR and CE department’s control. Annamalai said the “problems” in ‘Sanatana Dharma’ were created by individuals and they were rectified by saints and gurus. He said the DMK should not speak about it. In Trichy, BJP leader H Raja along with 78 other party members were detained for taking part in a road roko. In Pudukkottai, the BJP protesters tried to courier 108 banana skins to Sekar Babu for comparing Sanatana dharma to banana skins and Hinduism to banana. Police seized the banana skins.
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