A few years after Hindu Munnani’s protest against a church that was built demolishing the ancient temple in Tamil Nadu, voices have started emerging on the internet for justice and to bring back the temple to whom it originally belongs. As per reports, the Cathedral is built on the land where the Vedapureeswarar (Shiva) temple stood before and it was pulled down by the French colonisers in 1748.
This claim is based on the diary of a meticulous chronicler of the period, Ananda Rangam Pillai. The church’s clergy admit to the demolition, but say that the church had existed adjacent to the temple. According to the Archbishop of Pondicherry, Father Michael Augustine: “The diary says the then governor’s troops had attacked the temple from within the church that stood next door.”
The Munnani kicked off its campaign dramatically on February 8 when two of its members lit camphor near the church altar as a token of the commencement of kar seva to rebuild the temple. Soon after, the Christians started mobilising their supporters. At the two-day Christian Unity Conference held in Madurai last fortnight, the Sangh brotherhood was criticised for “polluting the south with its evil designs”.
The administration promptly posted units of the CRPF and the BSF, and stationed a police post outside the church. Chief Minister V. Vaithilingam, while dismissing it as a non-issue, asserts he will not take any chances and adds the Sangh “cannot alter the unique blend of communal harmony which has existed here for centuries”.
Meanwhile, as the Ayodhya case has turned out favourable for Hindus, the protestors are expecting that the land that belongs to the temple will be returned to the community. Protestors say that Hindus should start reclaiming their temples across the country which was ruined by both Christian and Muslim invasions.
Info Courtesy: India Today
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