The Traveler, Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Tamil Nadu Dravidian Association (Dravidar Kazhagam) chief, Veeramani, has once again stirred a commotion in Malaysia earning the ire of Hindu puritans in the country. Veeramani, apparently, disparaged Hindu god Krishna – DK followers visiting Malaysia do this all the time -- in his speech at a Tamil Cultural function, Ipoh.

 Yesterday, Makkal Osai Tamil daily reported that professor Rajendran behaved indecently and insulted Veeramani at the gathering for the latter’s speech.   

Rajendran denied the allegations questioning the accuracy of Makkal Osai reporting and claimed to have uttered only one word ‘Vanakkam’ to Veeramani. Nothing else.

Malaysian Hindu Sangam quickly jumped into the fray to condemn Veeramani for denigrating the Hindus and applauded Rajendran as a ‘Tamilan with dignity’ for speaking-up bravely. Some others also joined to criticize Veeramani.

These people sighted Malaysian national code ‘Rukun Negara’ which says “Believe in God’’ as one of the five codes to defend Rajendran’s action.

DK is a rationalist self-respect movement founded by E V Ramasamy, popularly known as Periyar, to fight caste injustices and irrational ceremonies prevalent in Hindu society. The two political parties, DMK and ADMK, taking turns to rule Tamil Nadu were the offspring of DK.

Periyar’s famous slogan written below his statue: “Those who believe in god are fools; those who pray to god are deviants; those who propagate god are scoundrels”.

Professor Rajendran should know better about DK and Veeramani. The organizers of the cultural event had rightly invited speaker’s having diverse views to let the audience to make the judgment. If you don’t like to share the same platform, don’t be a speaker. That’s what Anwar Ibrahim did. He refused to speak at a forum where Salman Rushdie was also a speaker.

DK and Veeramani are no threat to Hinduism. Ironically, just two days ago three people died after drinking what was supposed to be ‘holy water’. What a foolish thing to do? Still, many Hindus are doing all kind of foolish ceremonies in the name of God. What is Hindu Sangam doing? Where is Rajendran?

One punk calling himself ‘sitthar’ celebrating his birthday in Batu Caves temple with his blind followers. This punk is a threat to Hinduism. This punk is projecting himself as god and denigrating Hinduism.

What is Hindu Sangam doing? Where is the Thamilan Rajendran?