After being in the eye of a storm for her recent remarks against Tirupathi Venkatachalalpathy at the World Atheist Conference, DMK leader Kanimozhi has now defended her mother’s religious beliefs.
Speaking at an event on Sunday, the Rajya Sabha MP said that she would defend the right of her mother to go to a temple, even though she herself is an atheist.
Responding to people who ask her why her mother visits temples, she said, “My mom does go to temples. She has the right to do so. I will fight for that as well. Nobody has the right to stop her from going to the temple. I will tell her and Thalaivar (Karunanidhi) has also repeatedly spoken to her about it. But she goes.”
When her mother reportedly said Karunanidhi had begun to develop faith, Kanimozhi decided to ask her father.
She said, “I ask him is there a God or no? He couldn’t speak and shook his head.”
Kanimozhi was recently embroiled in a row over her comments at the World Atheist Conference.
She asked why the deity at Tirupati needed a gunman to protect the coffers since he was a God.
This sparked condemnation and the Hindu Munnani filed a police complaint with the Chennai Police Commissioner.
Recounting a personal incident, Kanimozhi said that even today, Karunanidhi was firm in his atheistic beliefs.
Admitting that Karunanidhi couldn’t speak due to tracheostomy and communicates through lip movements and gestures, she said, “When Thalaivar’s caretaker Nithya, who is a believer, puts holy ash on his forehead after having prayed to God for his good health, he immediately wipes it away.”
Nithya reportedly told Kanimozhi, “Regardless of how sick he is, the hand automatically goes to wipe the holy ash.”
Kanimozhi continued, “I asked her, why do you do that? If he was healthy, he would have hit you.”
Kanimozhi's speech also comes in light of a possible threat to atheistic Dravidian politics, given the entry of Rajinikanth who claims his politics would be of a spiritual nature.
The BJP, a Hindu party, is also seeking to make inroads into the state.
DMK has been traditionally atheistic while it is widely believed that the AIADMK is abandoning such a stance.