Show the power of Hindu vote: Tamil Nadu BJP ally at Murugan meet

Madurai/Chennai: Hindu Munnani, a right-wing outfit close to BJP, Sunday called upon people to demonstrate the strength of the Hindu vote bank in the assembly elections in Tamil Nadu due in April next year. At the Lord Murugan Devotees Conference organised by it, Hindu Munnani passed a resolution for 'Hindu unity' and protection of Hindu rights and temples.

Another resolution at the conference, which was attended by Andhra Pradesh deputy CM Pawan Kalyan and BJP office-bearers of Tamil Nadu, said the DMK govt should "stop treating temples as revenue sources and use funds to benefit devotees".

Pawan Kalyan hit out at 'secularists' and atheists for targeting Hinduism while 'remaining silent' about other religions even as several parties including DMK, Congress, NTK and MDMK attacked BJP, saying it was using the conference to gain political mileage through religion.

"Secularism has become a convenient word for a lot of people. Secularism means there should not be any discrimination in the name of any religion, except Hinduism, Hindu gods and Hindu culture. The so-called secularists do not have the guts to speak about the religion which came from Arabia," Pawan Kalyan said, adding that for atheists, "it has become a habit to denigrate our gods. This has to change. If this does not change, it would be difficult to sustain Hindu dharma".

Speaking in Tamil, Pawan Kalyan called Pasumpon Muthuramalinga Thevar, an icon of Thevars, an incarnation of Lord Murugan who was "world's first revolutionary leader". The Thevar community is an influential vote bank in south Tamil Nadu.

Former BJP state chief K Annamalai said there should not be any religious conversion from Hinduism, adding those who have converted should return to Hinduism.

Though BJP's ally AIADMK has chosen not to speak about the conference, four former ministers from the party - R B Udhayakumar, Sellur K Raju, Rajendhira Balaji and Kadambur Raju - participated in the event. Union minister L Murugan and senior BJP members H Raja, Tamilisai Soundararajan and Vanathi Srinivasan were also present.

Attacking BJP and Hindu Munnani, TN Hindu religious and charitable endowments minister P K Sekarbabu said Lord Murugan will never offer his blessings to 'wrong people'. "Lord Murugan knows which event is political and which is spiritual. He can differentiate between right and wrong. So, he will never side with wrong people,'' he said.

NTK chief Seeman said BJP was trying to appropriate Lord Murugan after they failed to reap political dividends using Lord Ram and Lord Ganesh in TN. "Why are they trying to appropriate Murugan suddenly, when all they spoke about for years was Ram in north India, Ganesh in TN and Ayyappa in Kerala?"