DMK faces off with BJP in LS on Deepam row

EVEN as the Madurai bench of the Madras High Court on Friday said it would hear all appeals in the Thiruparankundram Karthigai Deepam case on December 12, the issue triggered an acrimonious exchange between BJP and DMK members in the Lok Sabha.

- PREETHA NAIR @New Delhi

The ruckus began during the Zero Hour after senior DMK leader TR Baalu raised concerns over the verdict by the high court.

The HC judge had allowed petitioners to light the lamp on a stone pillar, ‘Deepathoon’, on the Thiruparankundram hill against the century-old custom followed by Tamil Nadu’s HR&CE department. The state government had defied the December 1 order of Justice GR Swaminathan, apprehending communal tensions in the state. The SC on Friday agreed to hear the state’s appeal challenging the HC’s order.

Raising the issue in the Lok Sabha, Baalu accused the BJP of trying to ‘ignite’ communal tension in Tamil Nadu and claimed that the judge belongs to a particular ideology. “Who should light the deepam on the hill? Whether the Hindu Religious Endowment Board representative or some miscreants who have got a judgment from a Madras HC judge?” he asked.