Speaking at the Kapaleeswarar temple on October 5, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin said that the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) government is not against spiritualism but those who take advantage of spiritualism for politics and propagate hatred. In an event organised by the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR&CE) department to celebrate Tamil saint Vallalar’s birthday, the Chief Minister claimed that political parties who used religious politics as a mode of survival are running a campaign to portray that the DMK government is against spiritualism.
According to The Hindu, MK Stalin said that people have edited parts of his speech and shared it on social media to create an impression that he and the DMK government were against spiritualism but that has not been the case. He added, “Let me say it clearly that the DMK is not against spiritualism, but only against those who use it to fulfil their selfish agenda and spread social discrimination. Those who know the culture of religion in the Tamil land will understand it.”
At the event, the Chief Minister recalled Vallalar’s dictum ‘there is one God and he is in the form of light’ and said that former Chief Minister CN Annadurai adopted the idea of ‘one God, one race’ from the Tamil poet Thirumoolar. He also referred to a Thirukkural which negated social status assigned at one’s birth.
CM Stalin stated that it was the DMK government’s duty to celebrate Vallalar as he had campaigned against discrimination based on caste and religion. He added that the government has drafted a committee and has allocated Rs 100 crore to establish an international centre at Vadalur, where Vallalar had set up a community kitchen during his time. CM Stalin also announced that Rs 3.25 crore have been allocated to provide ‘annadhanam’ (donating food) in this centre.