Five Left parties on Tuesday strongly condemned what they termed as attempts by the BJP and other Hindutva forces to create communal discord in Tamil Nadu by raking up a controversy around religious sites on Thirupparankundram Hill in Madurai district.
In a joint statement, the Communist Party of India (Marxist), Communist Party of India, CPI (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation, Revolutionary Socialist Party and All India Forward Bloc alleged that the BJP had sought to project the hill home to three temples, a dargah and ancient Jain caves as the “Ayodhya of the South”. “Seeking to extract political benefit in Tamil Nadu, BJP leaders, in February this year, labelled the site as the “Ayodhya of the South, brought in people from outside, and attempted to provoke an incident. They also used social media to vitiate the atmosphere and sow discord,” the Left parties said.
The statement criticised the recent order delivered by Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court permitting a petitioner to light the Karthigai Deepam atop a British-era survey pillar adjacent to the Sikandar Badusha Dargah. The Left parties said the ruling ignored past judgments, historical records and the Places of Worship Act, 1991, and undermined the State government’s authority on law and order.
