Madurai MP Su. Venkatesan heading a hunger strike organised by CPI(M) at Palanganatham in Madurai on Monday.
| Photo Credit: R. ASHOK
“The Thirupparankundram issue which is perceived to be a fight between Hindus and Muslims, is actually a fight between the Modi government and Madurai people,” said CPI(M) MP Su. Venkatesan.
He spoke at a day-long hunger strike at the Palanganatham in Madurai, protesting what it called attempts by right-wing groups to stoke communal tension over ‘Karthigai Deepam’ at Thirupparankundram hill.
In his address, Mr. Venkatesan said there was “no place for religious fanaticism in the soil of Madurai” and described the CPI(M)’s fast as a struggle to “protect people’s unity” and put development, rather than hate, at the centre of public discourse.
He accused organisations aligned with the RSS, BJP and Hindu Munnani of trying to turn the Thirupparankundram ‘Karthigai Deepam’ into a ‘riot lamp’.
The MP slammed right wing forces for manufacturing conflict over the Deepam site through a ‘same pattern’ of religious riots, resembling ‘Ayodhya politics’ to derail focus from real issues.
He noted that after the 2019 Supreme Court verdict on the Babri Masjid-Rama Janmabhoomi case, ‘many problems regarding places of worship have been raised in courts,’ with 18 cases registered in 2024-25 alone.
“They claim a temple existed under a mosque and start a case to create tension as seen in Uttar Pradesh and other States,” he added.
Mr. Venkatesan criticised former Chief Minister and AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K. Palaniswami for ignorance of his party’s past stances under MGR and Jayalalithaa, which upheld traditions and rejected such provocations.
Invoking a 3,000-year-old history of Thirupparankundram from Vel worship to Buddhist, Jain and other traditions, Mr. Venkatesan said the hill symbolised a shared Tamil spiritual heritage that cannot be reduced to a single communal narrative.
He cited practices where Hindus and Muslims jointly pull the Sandanakoodu chariot and serve devotees during festivals, insisting the real conflict was ‘between religious fanatics and friendly human beings,’ not between religious communities.
In his concluding speech, CPI(M) politburo member K. Balakrishnan warned that the AIADMK-BJP alliance posed a grave threat to Tamil Nadu’s peace and growth, slamming Mr. Palaniswami for enabling Hindutva organisations to escalate small issues into religious riots destroying the secular nature of the State.
Highlighting soaring inflation, the decline of traditional businesses and unemployed qualified youth, he accused BJP and its allies of dividing people in the name of religion while ignoring the real issues.
Mr. Balakrishnan affirmed that CPI(M) would not allow such atrocities to continue, declaring “this election will change things.”
Slogans at the protest urged the Union government not to neglect Madurai, and demanded action on drinking water, industrial investment, small and medium enterprise protection and youth employment along with a firm stand against religious provocation.
In addition, Madurai district CPI(M) secretary M. Ganesan, in the presence of suburban district secretary K. Rajendran, spoke at the protest.
Published – December 30, 2025 07:57 pm IST
