Chennai: Tamil Nadu minister for sports development Udhayanidhi Stalin described the neglect of President Droupadi Murmu at the new Parliament building inauguration in May, 2023, as the ‘best current example’ of caste discrimination even as his party (DMK) members challenged Paramahans Acharya, the head priest of Tapasvi Chhawani temple in Ayodhya, to lay his hands on the DMK’s youth wing secretary.
With media persons continuing to hound the minister with the same question on the controversy whipped up by the BJP, he said that the Union BJP government did not invite Murmu for the Parliament building opening and it was clear case of caste discrimination.
Meanwhile, the mahant of the Ayodhya temple, who had announced a bounty of Rs 10 crore on the head of Udhayanidhi Stalin and later offered to raise the amount, continued to be burnt in effigy by DMK cadre at various places in the state like Krishnagiri and Dharmapuri on Wednesday.
Wall posters appeared in Coimbatore daring Acharya to ‘touch’ Udhaynidhi Stalin.
The posters, calling Paramahans Acharya as a fake god man, formed only a part of the swelling opposition to the death threat issued by the Hindu priest as Tamil social media was flooded with messages, comments, trolls and memes mocking the BJP leaders and many others taking umbrage at the speech of Udhayanidhi Stalin at a conference called for the eradication of Sanatana Dharma in Chennai on Saturday.
Earlier, in his Teachers’ Day message, on Tuesday he had referred to the Ekalvaya story of Mahabharata. The bond between the Dravidian Movement and the teachers who were concerned only about the future of their pupils without demanding their thumbs as reward was a strong one that would continue forever, he said in the message on X platform.
In the Ekalvaya story, which he did not elaborate in the X message, referred to Dronacharya, an archery teacher practicing caste discrimination. As per the mythological tale, Ekalvaya was denied training in archery by the Guru, who, however, demanded his thumb as ‘Guru Dakshana’ after learning that he mastered the skill on his own by invoking Dronacharya's blessings.
Though the Teachers’ Day message did not create a flutter earlier, some new outlets had blown it up to highlight the hidden thrust of his ideological inclination. So they are now referring to the message to drive home the point that it was also a veiled attack against Mahabharata characters.
The BJP in the State that did not initially come out vociferously against the Minister even as a frenzy was whipped in social media and in many north Indian States put up wall posters in Coimbatore saying ‘Sanatham is Our Breath of Life.’
On the other hand, state president of Indian National League J. Abdul Rahim approached the National Investigation Agency (NIA) office at Purasawalkam to lodge a complaint against the Mahant of Ayodhya and demand his arrest.
He wanted the NIA to set a right example for Indians by filing a case against the Paramahans Acharya for announcing a reward for anyone beheading the State Minister but was told that the office did not accept such complaints.
So, Rahim approached the City Police Commissioner’s office with the same complaint and also sent it across to the NIA by mail for action.
