Thiruparankundram Row: Andhra Deputy CM Pawan Kalyan wades into controversy, says sacred Karthigai Deepam was 'stolen'

Hyderabad: Andhra Pradesh deputy chief minister Pawan Kalyan who has been vocal about Sanatana Dharma on Friday waded into the ongoing controversy surrounding Thirupparankundram in Tamil Nadu and found an opportunity to stress his long pending demand for a Sanatana Dharma Raksha Board.

“We need a Sanatana Dharma Raksha Board where devotees actively manage their own temples and religious affairs. Mockery of Hindu traditions and rituals has become a norm for certain groups. Do they dare to do the same for other religious events? Does Article 25 become an optional right instead of a fundamental right to the Hindus? Can a Police Commissioner or a District Magistrate unilaterally nullify a specific High Court Directive? If the High Court confirmed the Deepam lighting was a "harmless religious act" on legally owned land, who decides that this practice constitutes a threat to "communal harmony," and by what legal mechanism? How come HR&CE Department consistently and repeatedly act against the interests of Hindu devotees and their temple's traditions, and how do these officials evade serious accountability? Hindus should observe the collective spirit and solidarity shown by practitioners of Abrahamic religions (religions of Arabian origin) when religious issues arise,” said Pawan Kalyan in a social media post.

Pawan Kalyan's Jana Sena is NDA ally and shares power in Andhra Pradesh along wth TDP and BJP.

He further said that religions from Arabian origin overcome their ethnic, regional, and linguistic differences for the sake of their faith. As long as Hindus remain divided by caste, regional, and linguistic barriers, the mockery, insults, and abuses against the Hindu religion and its practices shall continue.

“If Hindus in our nation don't unite under a common minimum program with the collective spirit of Hindu Dharma (or Aram in Tamil), this spirit will be lost. I hope for a day when every Hindu from Kashmir to Kanyakumari and Kamakhya to Dwarka wakes up to the humiliation Hindus face in their own land,” he said.

Pawan Kalyan said that Thirupparankundram is the First of the Six Abodes of Lord Murugan (Kartikeya). The practice of lighting lamps atop the hill during the Tamil month of Karthigai is an ancient tradition of Hindus. It is sad and ironic that today the Hindus in Bharat have to seek judicial interventions to practice their faith and perform their rituals, he said.

“If, even after winning a decisive legal battle, devotees cannot perform a simple, peaceful ritual on their own property, then where, in their own country, shall they truly find constitutional justice? In short and simple, let all the Hindus in Bharat understand this - The bitter truth is - The Chennai High Court affirmed our right to light the Deepathoon - first by a single judge, then upheld by a higher bench. Legally, the battle was won. Yet, practically, we were forced to adjust. Ask yourself - Can any religious festival be moved a week late? Can a holy day's celebration be shifted to a different time? No. Because the sanctity of religious time and the integrity of every religious calendar is non-negotiable. Yet, for Sanatana Dharma, the moment—the sacred Karthigai Deepam—was stolen, vanished forever. Why? Because Hindus can be taken for granted. Sometimes it's the governments, sometimes it’s the executive, sometimes it’s the NGOs, sometimes it’s a random pseudo intellectual groups – but every time, it is Hindus who accept the loss and adjust,” he said.

He also observed that Hindus secured the right, but lost the ritual. This repeated, systemic denial is why a time has come to demand more than just court victories - We need the Sanatana Dharma Raksha Board.