CM MK Stalin wants couples to have small families

In the olden days couples were wished ‘16 blessings,’ which had been wrongly interpreted as 16 children, he said adding that the 16 kinds of wealth wished for the couples included other things like house property, cattle, spouse, children, education, ability to learn, knowledge, discipline, land, water, longevity, vehicle, gold, wealth, fame and so on.

The 31 marriages were the first instalment of the 700 such nuptials that were promised to be solemnized by the State government during the demands for grant for the Hindu Religious and Charitable and Endowments (HR & CE) department with an allocation of Rs 60,000.

Each of the couple was presented a free trousseau of various articles that they might need to to start a family, like cot, mattress, bureau, gas stove, wet grinder, mixer, cooker, a range of cooking vessels and even a thali, put together by the government.

The Chief Minister, speaking at the occasion, lauded the HR & CE department and the Minister in charge of it, P K Sekarbabu for organizing several such events, including the wedding, and also winning most of the litigations in courts with regard to the department.

Among the few court cases that the department had won were the obtaining a favourable verdict on allowing the devotees climbing on top of the ‘kanagasabai’ to offer worship at the Sabanayagam temple in Chidambaram and the one relating to allowing priests of all castes to preside over the temple proceedings.

Temple that benefited through the verdicts that ensured the free conduct of pooja and other activities ranged from Tiruchendur, Thirvattar, Sankarankovil, Vadalur, Vellore, Kantharvakottam, Kallakurichi, Thekkampatti, Mylapore, Sivagangai, Thiruvanmiyur and Polichalur, he said.

While the real devotees were happy about the government ensuring their religious rights, there were others who used religion to play fake politics and it was they who went to the courts to stop the religious practices in the temples, he said.

Quoting a dialogue from the famous Tamil movie of 1962, 'Parasakthi' for which the script was written by M Karunanidhi, he said the DMK’s view was not that there should be no temple but that the shrines should not turn into abodes of thieves.

All those litigations were aimed at stopping the progress of the DMK government that had managed to break the shackles and continue its successful march in ensuring that all religions were treated on par and all their rights were protected, he said.

Stalin also listed out the various achievements of the HR&CE department in the past three that included retrieving several tracts of encroached temple land, measuring 9,069 acres and valued at Rs 6,792 crore, thus earning the platitudes of devotees.

Even temples that were 1000 years old were renovated after the present government took charges and several other temples that were dilapidated were given a facelift and revived, he said.