row refuses to die down

Cleared

Chennai: The row over Kancheepuram mutt junior acharya Vijayendra Saraswathi remaining seated when the Tamil Thai Vaazhthu was played at a function in Chennai on Tuesday refused to die down with political parties and Tamil outfits lashing out at the seer for “disrespecting Tamil”.

Dravida Kazhagam issued an ultimatum to the acharya, asking him to apologise, failing which cadres of the outfit would stage protests outside the Kanchi Mutt and its branches across TN. DK leader K Veeramani on Friday said the junior pontiff should apologise on or before February 3. “If the acharya refuses to apologise, DK cadre will stage protests in front of the Sankara Mutt in Kancheepuram as well as in front of its branches across Tamil Nadu,” said Veeramani in a party release.

The incident took place during a book release function organised by BJP leader H Raja. When the ‘Tamil Thai Vaazhthu’ was played, governor Banwarilal Purohit and other dignitaries stood up. But the junior seer remained seated in a meditative pose.

DMK working president M K Stalin while speaking at a party function in Cuddalore condemned the junior seer for remaining seated during the ‘Tamil Thai Vaazhthu’ (invocation to Tamil mother) and took a dig at Rajinikanth wondering whether such disrespect constituted ‘spiritual politics’ as that advocated by the actor.

“The Kanchi Mutt says the acharya was meditating as the Tamil Thai Vaazhthu was a prayer. Today meditation has caught on in a big way. Earlier too, a person meditated in front of former chief minister J Jayalalithaa’s memorial in his eagerness to get back the chief minister’s post. Does this constitute spiritual politics?” asked Stalin.

Raja defended the acharya saying language is revered like god and the acharya did not do anything wrong by sitting when the song was played. “When the Tamil song was played, the acharya was in meditation. He was in bhakthi as the song is like a prayer,” said Raja.

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