On Monday, the Tamil Nadu Government demolished Sri Narasimha Anjaneyar Swamy temple in Chennai citing the reason for illegal temple construction by encroaching the Adyar riverbed in Varadharajapuram. The revenue officials along with the police force headed by the Tambaram Assistant Commissioner visited the spot and started to demolish the temple.
This is after the authorities had sent three encroachment notices to the Temple trust. The enraged Hindu devotees had also staged protests and objected to the demolition of the temple. According to the reports, around 20 people who protested and argued with the police yesterday were arrested and are detained at a nearby community hall.
It is worth noting that the temple of Sri Rama, the Sri Narasimha Anjaneyar Swamy had been built in the area located near Mudichur for the past 25 years and was constructed on 55 cents of land. A few years ago, the revenue officials found that the temple was constructed on the encroached waterbody and issued notices to the temple representatives. The idols of the Narasimha Anjaneyar temple in Tambaram were handed over to the trustees during the demolition.
The matter cropped up when videos of the destruction went viral over the internet distressing the Hindu community. Many of the enraged Hindu netizens have raised questions against the ruling DMK government. “How did an ancient temple encroach?”, asked one of the users holding responsible the MK Stalin govt for hurting the sentiments of Hindu people.
To know how this Govt is in spree destroying every Hindu temple for no reason
— RajiAiyer (@RajeAiyer) January 10, 2022
Jayamkondan Incident - Rettai Pillaiyar (Ganapati) Temple
The temple owns 30 Acres of Land
Govt transfered this entire land to missionaries & demolished the temple too!
They not only took away the pic.twitter.com/k0hglULWrt
Another concerned user meanwhile happened to share the disturbing video and asked how long were Hindus supposed to witness such more acts in Tamil Nadu. One of them even shared the temple demolition statistics in Tamil Nadu and said that there was no hope left for Hindus in the state under the DMK regime.
Tambaram Ramar Koil,Chennai. How long should we witness such more acts dear Honourable Sirs/Ma'am @rashtrapatibhvn @PMOIndia @narendramodi @rajbhavan_tn @CMOTamilnadu @rajinikanth @annamalai_k @EPSTamilNadu @polimernews @ThanthiTV @sunnewstamil @HRajaBJP @VanathiBJP @PKSekarbabu pic.twitter.com/b4wHFJCBD2
— Vijayasarathy (Ex SunTv) (@thebackwalker) January 10, 2022
Tambaram Sri Ram Mandir Demolished in Chennai, Tamilnadu after 3 week Encroachment Notice pic.twitter.com/5BukAbjglQ
— MeghUpdates🚨™ (@MeghBulletin) January 10, 2022
‘Temples built on the banks cannot be claimed as encroachment’- Kamatchipuram Mutt
It is reported that though the temple has been there for 25 years, it had been pulled down in 2015 and was rebuilt again at the same place. Kancheepuram Collector M Arathi said that encroachments on water bodies in Varadhrajapuram, Iyyapanthangal, Mangadu, Kolapakkam, and Gerugambakkam had been identified by a joint committee comprising officials from the Public Works Department and the Revenue Department. “We are first removing commercial structures and places of worship. Time is being provided to those who have constructed houses. Some kind of rehabilitation is being planned for those who are poor,” Arathi added.
Further, reports suggest that the temple authorities had sought time till Hanuman Jayanthi ie. April 16, 2022, which was granted. The devotees yesterday also argued and protested as the government authorities demolished the temple before the time limit they had given to the devotees to shift the idols.
Earlier in the month of July 2021, the Tamil Nadu government had demolished a 125-year-old temple on the banks of Muthanankulam, a pond, in the name of removing encroachments under the Smart City project. The Kamatchipuram Mutt had then pointed out that the majority of the Hindu temples were built either on the banks of the river or lakes so that the devotees can take baths or wash their legs and hands before entering the temples, which cannot be claimed as encroachment.
They had also alleged that there are hundreds of places of worship of other religions in many areas where the state claims to encroach, but only Hindu temples were being targeted. The administration last year, during the same period, had demolished Amman Kovil, Bannari Amman Kovil, Angala Parameswari, Karupparayan Kovil, Muneeswaran Kovil, and 2 more temples citing that the land had been taken up for rejuvenation and development under the Smart Cities Mission.
Rising cases of temple demolition in Tamil Nadu and the anti-Hindu bigotry of DMK
There has been a rising number of cases of temple demolition after MK Stalin took over as the state CM in Tamil Nadu. Besides temple demolitions, Hindu beliefs and customs have also come under attack of late.
As reported extensively by Opindia, MK Stalin had become the center of controversy when Kalaiarasi Natarajan, a preacher had declared that there is no religion such as Hinduism and claimed that ‘we are all Shaivites’. In a Christmas event organized by the DMK, she had further said that one should never use the word ‘Hindu’. “There is no such thing as ‘Hindu’ religion. I feel disgusted to listen to Hindu religious stories”, she had said in the presence of DMK president MK Stalin. Recently, the DMK govt also happened to ban the events ahead of the Hindu festival of Pongal citing the surge in COVID cases.
The DMK has been accused by many of promoting anti-Hindu and anti-Brahmin bigotry. The anti-Hindu stance became amply clear from the statements made by late DMK President M Karunanidhi. He had said that Lord Rama was a drunkard. The late president had also remarked that the term ‘Hindu’ meant ‘thief’. He stated, “Who is a Hindu? You must ask Periyar EVR. A good man would say the word Hindu means a thief.”
It is pertinent to note that Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu M K Stalin is all set to chair the State-level advisory committee for all major Hindu temples under the purview of the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR&CE) Department. The appointment of MK Stalin is in line with section 7 of the HR&CE Act. With this the fate of thousands of temples and hundreds of religious trusts, mutts are in the hands of someone who doesn’t believe in God.
The article is based on a Twitter thread. - Newsbharati - Opindia
