Another temple was vandalised in Tamil Nadu and a ‘mentally unstable’ man was arrested for the act. Only a month ago another ‘mentally unstable’ was arrested for vandalising murtis in a temple controlled by the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments(HRCE) department in the same neighbourhood. With attacks on temples becoming frequent, devotees accuse HRCE of not providing security to temples under its control and raise suspicion about the arrest of ‘mentally unstable’ people in most cases.
The Dhandayuthapani temple located atop a hill in Chettikulam, Perambalur district is a well-known temple in the region and is controlled by HRCE. A few years ago concrete murtis of Bhagwan Murugan, Valli and Devasena were installed at the foothill on the way to the hilltop temple. On August 7 around 12.30 PM, devotees noticed a man vandalising the murtis with a stone. They immediately stopped him and informed the police.
After investigating him, cops informed the media that he was Bhoopathi (49) from a village in Trichy district. He is reportedly ‘mentally unstable’ and takes medicine for the same. As per media reports he has been residing at his father-in-law’s house with his family for nearly 12 years. On the day of the incident, he allegedly told his family that he was going to buy medicine in Thuraiyur in Trichy district, but went to Chettikulam in Perambalur district and performed the sacrilegious act.
In June, another temple under HRCE control was vandalised and police said that the person behind the incident was ‘mentally unstable’. Shri Ekambareswarar temple in the same Chettikulam village of Perambalur was targeted by this ‘mentally unstable’ man. He kept wandering around the temple the whole day and entered the temple by breaking the lock at night. He vandalised Bhagwan Murugan’s murti and the wooden chariot in the temple. He also set fire to the documents kept inside the temple.
He was caught based on CCTV footage and police claimed that he was mentally ill and a repeat offender. At that time locals alleged a lack of responsibility in ensuring the security of temples despite earning much from them. The Ekambareswarar temple was also neglected despite being the most earning temple in the district and the same fate has been repeated for the Dhandayuthapani temple now.
There were a series of attacks on temples in Perambalur district in 2021, soon after the assembly elections. In the month of October 2021 alone, there were 3 attacks on temples in the same vicinity. One of the temples was only recently renovated at the time of the attack and Karthik Gopinath, a YouTuber, collected funds through social media to renovate the temple again. He was targeted based on frivolous charges levelled by HRCE and arrested.
In another incident, a Muslim man set fire to a temple chariot in the same district. Although he confessed and said he would do it again if he gets the opportunity, police let him off claiming that he was mentally ill. The anti-Hindu politics of VCK, a so-called Dalit party is prominent in Perambalur. The chief of VCK, Thol.Thirumavalavan has denigrated Hindu beliefs many times. He even organised a conference titled “Uproot Sanatana Dharma” in 2020 in which the current CM MK Stalin took part and pledged to uproot Sanatana Dharma. Thirumavalavan had also called for the destruction of prominent temples like Tirupati Balaji, Chidambaram Natarajar, etc claiming that they were originally Buddha Vihars.
During the series of attacks in October 2021, Hindu Munnani organised a protest condemning the repeated attacks on temples and demanding immediate action to nab the culprits and protect the temples. Before the protest was held, Hindu Munnani’s Trichy head Gunasekaran, the organiser of the protest, received a threatening call from a Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK) party cadre. He had threatened to hurl petrol bombs at the protesting crowd if it wasn’t cancelled.
Temples are treated only as cash cows by the state which controls most of them under one pretext or another. The state suppresses any attempt to spread awareness about its illegal possession of temples in fear of losing the most profitable business without capital. It is important to do as much as possible to protect temples lest they become museums due to such vandalisms with the subtle help of the state.
