Chennai, March 2 Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin defended the state government's stance on the Tirupparankundram temple lamp lighting controversy and said personal faith should not be subservient to politics.
His remarks came on a day Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the Arulmighu Subrahmanya Swamy temple in Tirupparankundran and offered prayers.
In a video message released on March 1, when he turned 73, Stalin said his government defended its position on the Karthigai Deepam lamp lighting controversy on a stone pillar on Tirupparankundram hill, and said he made a choice to protect the temple's tradition as chief minister, not as a religious leader.
"I firmly believe that personal faith should not be subservient to politics. Reason and faith need not be in conflict; they are both aspects of the same society," he said in the message and claimed that the friendship between rationalist leader "Periyar" Ramasamy and Adigalar was proof.
Stalin was apparently referring to Kundrakudi Ponnambala Adigalar, who recently praised the DMK government for protecting temples and fostering a positive environment for spirituality and education.
After visiting the temple on Sunday evening, the Prime Minister, who addressed a massive rally of the NDA in Madurai, targeted the ruling DMK dispensation, alleging "insensitivity" towards people's sentiments on the Tirupparankundram lamp lighting issue and said the devotees would eventually prevail.
In the controversy over lighting the lamp on Deepathoon (stone pillar) atop the Tirupparankundram hill near a Dargah, the Madras High Court permitted the Hindus to light the lamp during the Karthigai Deepam festival.
However, the local authorities had disallowed this move, fearing it would lead to conflict between people of two faiths.
"We may have different beliefs, but we live in the same land, speak the same language, and strive towards the same future. That is the essence of the Dravidian movement," Stalin, who is the president of the DMK, said in the message released by his party.
He emphasised that his goal in politics was to unite everyone and reiterated his government's stance on upholding the dual language policy of Tamil and English.
