A man who converted out of Hindu Dharma has been arrested for vandalising murtis in Dindigul, Tamil Nadu. The Ganesha temple in a village in Dindigul was vandalised by one Balakrishnan, a crypto convert, who has confessed his crime.
Vandalism of temples and murtis has become a regular affair in Tamil Nadu since the anti-Hindu DMK came to power. Perambalur district saw a number of incidents where tens of murtis were vandalised and temple chariots were set on fire. Yet police claimed this sacrilege was done by “drunken” or “mentally unstable” and booked them under less severe sections.
However now, a converted man has been arrested by police for breaking murtis after much protest by Hindu organisations. The Ganesha temple near VadaMadurai in Dindigul district was vandalised by one Balakrishnan. The murtis of Ganesha, 4 naga deities and Mooshika were vandalised by him on January 7. He also intentionally damaged the power supply equipments of Veerabhadra and Ravaneshwara temples on the same day.
Reportedly he broke the drinking water pipes in the village as well. Some of the influential people in the village tried to sort it out through a khap panchayat instead of filing a complaint with the police. But villagers wouldn’t compromise and lodged a police complaint. Hindu Munnani also lodged a complaint and demanded immediate arrest of Balakrishnan.
He is said to be running a financial firm in Kerala where he came into contact with a non-Hindu woman. He fell in love with her and is said to have converted out of Hindu dharma to marry her. He is alleged to have broken the drinking water pipeline a few months ago and paid a penalty as per the khap panchayat’s decision. Police were allegedly hesitant to take action against Balakrishnan and arrested him only after Hindu Munnani staged a protest.
Unsurprisingly, except Dinamalar, no media has reported the fact that Balakrishnan is a convert. If not for Hindu Munnani which found it out, it would have been dismissed as the misadventure of a “drunkard” or “mentally unstable” man. In Perambalur, a Muslim man had set fire to two temple chariots and when villagers questioned him, he clearly said that he set them on fire. Yet he was let off as police claimed that he was “mentally unstable”.
Similarly many who have been arrested for vandalising temples and murtis have been branded as drunkards, thieves, etc. A few days ago there were 4 incidents of attacks on temples and murtis in a span of 7 days. There have been 2 more incidents after that. But HRCE which should be looking after the protection and welfare is nowhere to be seen and Hindu organisations that question this attitude are vilified as communal.
Hindu organisations have raised suspicion about these “drunkards” and “mentally unstable” people vandalising only Hindu temples. But the police department, which should be impartial, is interested only in arresting those who painted Periyar aka EV Ramasamy’s statue saffron in a day and don’t give as much respect to the religious sentiments of Hindus. With an anti-Hindu party at helm in the state nothing better can be expected.
