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The Chief Minister, Mr. M. Karunanidhi, today clarified that his
criticism as "barbaric" was not in respect of the fire. walking
ritual as such in temples but about the participation of his
partymen including it Minister in such a rite.
"It is not our intention to hurt any one's feelings. I reiterate
that my partymen undertaking the religious fire-walk for the
continuance of my rule is barbarous," he said in the Assembly.
The Chief Minister was responding to the Leader of the Opposition,
Mr. S. Balakrishnan, who said Mr. Karunanidhi's remarks had hurt
the feelings of many devotees. He wondered how could the voluntary
act of a person subjecting himself to ordeals be termed barbaric.
The fire walking ritual was conducted in the Bannari Amman temple
for the past several years, Mr. Karunanidhi noted. But he did not
express his views about it either last year or in earlier years.
There was no need for him to do so. His criticism should be viewed
against the background of the Minister's participation. He did not
mean that all the devotees of Bannari Amman were "barbarians," he
said.
While he was not afraid to call himself an atheist, the DMK party
did not totally repudiate the concept of God, Mr. Karunanidhi said.
This was made clear by the party founder Annadurai who said they
believed in "one God and one community." Annadurai himself was not
a believer in God. So too many leaders in the party. Leaders like
Nehru and Bhagat Singh had declared themselves as atheists.
Even though he was an atheist, Mr. Karunanidhi said, he was careful
not to hurt the feelings of theists. He did not prevent the
Ministers in charge of HR and CE in his Cabinet now and also
earlier from visiting temples or participating in the festivals
there or supervising the temple activities. The whole State also
knew that it was he who revived the practice of running the temple
car at Thiruvarur which had been discontinued for over 20 years.
He even wanted this Government to respond to the demands of the
devotees.
Mr. Karunanidhi said that he never imposed his views on his own
relatives. There could be some in his house who were devoted to
God. Even at the residence of the DK leader, Periyar, there was a
temple on account of the office of trustee he had held. But he
never imposed his views on others though he was vociferous in
propagating his rationalist ideals.
The Chief Minister said his criticism was not to hurt the
sentiments of any but to refine society. In support, he cited a
newspaper report which detailed the practice of childless women
taking by their mouth a plantain held in between the teeth of a
poojari in a village temple at Karamadai in Coimbatore district.
He also showed the relevant picture published by the newspaper and
asked "what will you call this."
He would say there was no need for his partymen or his Ministers to
undertake the fire ordeal for the sake of continuance of the DMK
Government. "We have overcome many ordeals. The DMK Government had
been dismissed earlier on a variety of grounds. We have lost power
for upholding democracy; we have lost power for expressing
solidarity with Eelam Tamils and this was done by connecting us
with the LTTE: we are prepared to lose power once again for the
sake of upholding rationalism," he declared amidst thumping of
desks from his partymen.
Earlier, Mr. C. Velayudham (BJP) pointed out that rituals of
inflicting pain on oneself in many forms was not uncommon. Even
political leaders had adopted this practice for the common good.
The Chief Minister's remarks had certainly wounded the feelings of
many people.
The CPI member, Mr. K. Subbarayan, pointed out that Vivekananda had
strongly condemned obscurantist practices in Hinduism. The Chief
Minister had echoed only such views.
Dr. Krishnasamy (DS) said belief in God and believing in
superstitions were entirely two different things. The rituals like
fire walking were no doubt barbaric.
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