The Telegraph reports
The administration has told government-run temples not to celebrate the traditional Tamil New Year tomorrow, saying the year began three months ago. Angry priests said they had received an oral order banning the New Year rites ? special pujas and readings from the Tamil almanac, Panchangam ? on Sunday.
At the root of the interference into the practice at Hindu Temples is a law passed by the DMK last february.
The Tamil year has always begun with the month of Chittirai, in mid-April. But the DMK government got a law passed last February, advancing it to the first day of the month Thai in mid-January. This was done to pander to Tamil nationalists who claim that the mid-April New Year is a ?Sanskritic imposition?.
The move has not been without political opposition.
Several Opposition leaders, led by Jayalalithaa and MDMK chief Vaiko, issued New Year?s Eve greetings to the public today, indicating they disagreed with the new calendar law.
There apparently is no limit to Karunanidhi’s bigotry.
It is no business of the Tamil Nadu Government to either alter the Calendar of religious and cultural significance. It also is no business of the DMK to dictate what rituals ought to be conducted in Temples.
Offstumped has in the past consistently denounced Government interference in religion. When the Communists attempted to intefere with Sabarimala Offstumped had roundly criticized the move. Offstumped had also spelled why State Control of Religion must be put to an end in its articulation of Flat World Hindutva.
Offstumped Bottomline: For a movement that swears by godless atheism Karunanidhi’s DMK Government stands guilty of undue interest and interference in the affairs of Hindu Temples. This assault on the New Year rirtuals in Tamil Nadu Temples is unacceptable. There can be no moral sanction for Government control of Temples. Will the Congress and the BJP show the courage and conviction to ammend the Constitution making it illegal for Governments to?manage Temples.?
Filed under: Flat World Hindutva
Absolutely agree. I can’t imagine why Govt is running religious institutions!
But maybe the institutions are also partly guilty because they can sustain on unjustifiable government grants and get pensionable jobs
It is all due to hindus fault.they are not united and are not politicaly concious.They should decide to vote collectively.They should also live,love.eat with weaker section hindus or so called dalits.They should also create muscle powers and learn how to hit,and whome to hit,and when to hit the opposers or Hindutva enemies.
Its hillarious, utterly condemnable.
Govt has no business to run temples. No business to decide when public will celebrate New Year, specially when it has religious meaning.
I am from Bengak- and from a family where there are many CPIM supporters. Still our mother, aunts, grandmas visit temple on the occassion of New year, arrange puja.
This shows once again how pathetic psuedo secularism has become. MK CANNOT GET HIS PET PROJECT OF DESTRUCTION OF RAMA SETU DEMOLISHED, INSTEAD HE IS TRYING TO WHIP UP ANTi-HINDU TAMIL PASSION FOR VOTEBANK.
Needless to say, DRAVIDIAN IDEOLOGY IS DEAD TODAY. Gone are those days when they used to publicly slap Rama’s photo with shoes- if they dare to do it again, their Govt will probably fall.
Court can intervene and stop this fanatic govt. Hindu groups should start arragning public meeting.
Also to be noted, how psuedo media- NDTV, the Hindu is keeping mum on this issue- as average public will feel disgusted becaue of these.
These DMK and DK b******* will d** a painful d****. Tamils have to realise that their identity is closely and intricately knit to Hinduism. Do Tamil Muslims and Tamil Christians celebrating Tamil New Year? No! Only Tamil Hindus do. So wake up Tamil Nadu. Our culturaly identity is in crisis.
Pongal in January is hardly Tamil. It is celebrated throughout India as Makara Sankranti. It is the biggest day in the Kumbh Mela every 12 years. But it is certainly not the New Year in the Tamil calendar.
The first of Chitterai i.e. April 13 is the New Year as dictated by Tamil tradition. This coincides with Baisakhi.
The DMK Government is resorting to a public stunt and gimmick by such silly moves.
What job does an atheist have in commenting about Tamil New Year ? Utter bull shit..
It was also disheartening to see the Tamil channels except ‘Jaya’, terming this as Chittirai Thirunal.
Yet these people cannot stop broadcasting special programs.
I really question whether these Tamil channels will celebrate all first day of Tamil Months like this: Panguni thirunal, maasi thirunal, vaigasi thirunal…and Maarghazhi thirunaal.
Karuna has always had the habit of maintaining double standards and believes in dividing people rather than uniting them.
The years are named in Tamil totaling to 60 and that New year also is Tamil in culture and tradition. Where did Kalaignar get the idea that it was Sanskrit. Let himm look at the sytems in vogue in North Indian way of counting months and years. He can ask his “savants” to do it for him. They seemed to have approved of this change CM made.
In my opinion the motivation behind his decision is actually not to hurt Hinduism in general but only Tamil Brahmins. Dotard Karu thinks Tamil New Year on Chittirai 1 was introduced only by Tamil Brahmins and this is his yet another action to hurt Tamil Brahmins who celebrate Tamil New Year in grand manner. Their Dravidian ideologies which is basically anti-Hinduism will die its natural death for sure with people like Karu, Veeramani etc.,
Ravi – rightly said. Still politicians want to maintain that Brahmins oppressed other communities dalits. Infact it is the so called OBCs who are landlords and who are still maintaining untouchability in Tamilnadu.
I remember reading some 14 years back in Kumudam. Kumudam had offered celebrities to be author for their weekly issues. It went for almost 2 years.
Maruthuvar(Doctor) Ramadoss was author of one issue and he had said that, dalit people were not let inside his house. Now Maruthuvar, his son and whole of his family are doctors. Yet he wants Creamy layer to also enjoy the benefits of reservation.
I have seen this oppression in front of my eyes in a place called Kannai Villupuram district.
This post may be out of context, but this is the fate. I do not blame the Dravidian culture(we cannot identify Dravidian culture with these political bastards). Dravidian culture is much more precious and rich.
Hurting Brahmins will be safe for the politicians, because they maintain their ‘Secularism’ by hurting Hindus and they maintain their ‘Socialism’ by hurting Brahmins.
[...] in Tamil Nadu. Strangely I hadn’t heard much about this in the news websites or the blogs. Offstumped is surprised that the Karunanidhi government would interfere in religious matters given its atheist leanings [...]
Britishers may have left the country, but their boot lickers in India and especially in Tamilnadu have mastered the art of divide-and-rule policies.
I believe the root cause of all this is – the Aryan Invasion Theory has not been dealt a death blow and until this is done and common public are informed about the truth behind why the theory was propounded initially, the rulers (DMK) and their foot soldiers in DK etc, will continue to sway public opinion by publishing garbage telling that Brahmins came from elsewhere and all their associated lies to serve their own interest. One only needs to raise a question, Krishna is black&yadav and is the most worshipped by the most orthodox people and if people were determined by their birth/color, how come Krishna is hailed as an avatar and worshipped?
But then, when is speaking Truth an attribute of the so-called ‘Dravidian Parties’?
[...] Sabarimalai to Tamil New Year, there have been numerous instances of the tyranny of State Control on the functioning of Hindu [...]
[...] several issues over the last 5 years from when to celebrate New Year to how to sport eye brows we have witnessed an unawarranted invasion by the State into matters of [...]
[...] several issues over the last 5 years from when to celebrate New Year to how to sport eye brows we have witnessed an unawarranted invasion by the State into matters of [...]