The Hindu Samaya Maanadu, an annual Hindu religious conference is scheduled to be conducted by the Haindava Seva Sangam (HSS) on March 5 at the Mandaikadu Bhagavathi Amman temple in Tamil Nadu’s Kanyakumari district. Hindu Religious & Charitable Endowments (HR&CE) Minister PK Sekar Babu, former DMK district secretary Suresh Rajan, Nagercoil Mayor Mahesh, and Congress MLA Vijayadharani are the official invitees to the event. This comes after a series of negotiations between the ruling DMK government and the HSS, a hardline Hindu outfit backed by the RSS, after a controversy over invitees sparked protests.
HSS has been involved in conducting the 10-day Hindu Samaya Maanadu for the past 85 years as part of the Masi Kodai festival at the Mandaikadu Bhagavathi Amman temple. The temple is under the control of the TN government’s HR&CE Department. In the past few years, there are allegations that the conference is being used as a platform to advance right-wing political agenda by inviting leaders from the BJP, RSS, Hindu Munnani, and other Hindutva groups. Additionally, this year the invitation to the event excluded the names of DMK ministers, party representatives, and other MLAs. The row started with a miffed state government deciding that the programme cannot be allowed inside the temple premises and deciding to conduct the annual festival on its own.
“Last year’s conference witnessed Tamil Nadu BJP Chief K Annamalai being invited for one of the events, and politics being openly discussed inside the temple premises controlled by the TN government,” said a local HR&CE official on condition of anonymity.
The state government’s move resulted in a series of protests in Kanyakumari district, with Hindutva organisations threatening to escalate the agitation if the DMK government did not allow HSS to conduct the event. The government then held several rounds of talks and reached an agreement to allow HSS to conduct the conference in the same premises.
During a fresh round of talks, the government also gave a proposal to include Minister for Information Technology Mano Thangaraj, who hails from Kanyakumari district, and Colachel constituency Congress MLA JG Prince in the conference. HSS had flatly rejected the proposal on the grounds that they were non-Hindus.
Speaking to TNM, Rathinapandian, General Secretary of HSS, told TNM that the matter has been resolved amicably after talks with HR&CE Minister PK Sekar Babu. “As per the agreement Sekar Babu, Suresh Rajan, Mahesh, and Vijayadharani have been invited for the religious gathering. “These names were acceptable for us because they are Hindus. The talks with Minister Sekar Babu were inconclusive because we did not want to include Mano Thangaraj and Prince. We were clear in our stand and the Minister finally agreed,” Rathinapandian said.
“We have not included the names of DMK representatives in the invitation. There are a lot of BJP members, and a few AIADMK and Congress members who have been invited. Even if we invite DMK members, they don’t turn up for the event. During the talks, Minister Sekar Babu wanted Minister Mano Thangaraj and Prince to be invited for the religious conference. They are Christians and we flatly refused. We will only invite those who are Hindus,” he added.
When asked why they are reluctant to invite Mano Thangaraj and Prince, who are public representatives, Rathinapandian said, “It is a Hindu religious conference, there is no place for Christians. This is something that we have been following for years and it is a tradition. There are a lot of Christians who are against Hindus, there are some who are not. We want to ensure that those who work against Hinduism should not be part of the event, so we do not entertain Christians attending the event at all,” he said.
The compromise between the TN government and HSS has not gone down well with DMK’s allies. Speaking to TNM, K Kanakaraj, CPM State Committee Member, questioned how a private organisation could decide who should be invited to an event conducted in a temple that is controlled by the HR&CE. “HSS is not the temple authority, it has to abide by HR&CE rules. Last year, Annamalai participated in the same event and criticised the DMK government. How can this be allowed? A lot of people invited to the event are connected to the RSS or to Hindu groups under different names. The government must step in and control the involvement of right-wing organisations in the temple’s affairs. The Tamil Nadu government should reconsider its decision to allow HSS to conduct the event,” he added.
When TNM contacted Minister Sekar Babu, he first refused to comment on the issue as talks were underway between the government and right-wing groups. Later, after declaring that the matter had been settled amicably, Sekar Babu told TNM that he had asked them to invite people from all backgrounds and the HSS representatives had agreed. “The matter was closed in a simple manner,” the Minister said.