"DMK Only Against 'Aryan' Hegemony And Not Spiritualism": MK Stalin

The DMK is only against 'Aryan' hegemony and it is not against spiritualism, the ruling party President and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin said in Chennai on Saturday.

Be it worshipping in temples or devotion, these are an individual's right and wish, he said.

In an interaction with volunteers --party supporters-- with a strong social media presence, Mr Stalin said though each one of them had a distinctive style in presentation, the essence of it all was the 'DMK's style.' The party chief said such volunteers were the party's strength as they could convey what, "we cannot say and what we hesitate to say." He said the BJP people now had only one task, which was posting in social media, pictures of the visit of his wife Durga Stalin to temples. "Durga is visiting all the temples in Tamil Nadu, that is her wish," he said adding he had never prevented her from doing so.

"We are enemies of only the Aryan hegemony, we are not against spiritualism; (worshipping in) temples and devotion are the right and wish of individuals." The Dravidian movement had secured through struggle temple entry rights to the oppressed people.

In Tamil Nadu, the word 'Aryan' is used often in political sense to champion social justice and oppose suppression of Backward classes, the SCs and STs.

Also, the Chief Minister quoted a popular dialogue from Tamil flick 'Parasakthi,' the crux of which is there is no opposition to temples, and the point is, temples should, however, not become a tent of the cruel people. Late DMK patriarch and Mr Stalin's father M Karunanidhi had scripted dialogues for the 1952 movie.

"The BJP is trying to make temple and devotion as advantageous to its politics," Mr Stalin said adding the Tamil Nadu people are good in reasoning and they know differentiating spiritualism from politics.

The Chief Minister said rumours were being spread in social media claiming destruction of temples in the state. "What is the truth? Our regime has consecrated 1,000 temples and that is our Dravidian model of governance." The DMK government has retrieved temple properties worth Rs 5,000 crore and the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department has published a book detailing the properties taken back by the government, he said.

Proper administration of temples is not liked by those who try to whip up passions for political mileage, he said. "Let us tell the truth to the people." Dubbing the AIADMK and BJP as anti-people, Stalin said, "we are fighting against them; against fascism." The BJP's 'fascist' tendency was against the entire country and the humanity and not just the DMK, its principles or Tamil Nadu.

Mr Stalin accused the AIADMK as being 'subservient' to the BJP, pledged Tamil Nadu's rights and it had no principles. Since the AIADMK feared that it would be fully sidelined by the people if it remained in the BJP's fold, the main opposition party was now playing the 'inside-outside' game.

Recently, the AIADMK snapped ties with the BJP and walked out of the NDA alliance. The DMK supporters have been claiming that the former allies could formally join hands later.

The DMK top leader said the BJP and AIADMK were "two sides of the same coin." He said the BJP only knew 'WhatsApp university,' spreading 'libel, lies and rumours.'

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)