An injunction suit was filed against Tamil superstar Rajinikanth at a local court in Bengaluru, just two days prior to him getting the Padma Vibhushan, in connection with the ‘paal abhishekam’ ritual.
The ritual involves the pouring of milk on flex banners and life-sized cutouts of the star.
In Chennai for example, though the tradition started with fans doing puja in a few theatres like Kasi theatre in Ashok Nagar and Albert theatre in Egmore, considered to be lucky for the actor, soon it spread to mostly all theatres in all the districts.
The petition filed by Dr. IMS Manivannan on March 26 seeks to stop this practice on the ground that it leads to the wasteful discharge of thousands of litres of milk.
Speaking to The News Minute, Dr. Manivannan said, “We have filed the injunction suit against Mr. Rajinikanth asking him to willfully come forward to stop the wastage of milk which is being poured on his cutouts.”
“He is receiving the second highest civilian award of India. So let him not continue this in the future. Let the national resource (milk) of our country not go waste.
Regarding the court’s response, he said that the court has accepted his petition and they have issued an emergency notice to Rajinikanth seeking his response.
However, it is not only Rajinikanth’s fans who indulge in this ritual but all the other major actors’ fan clubs perform it. When asked why Rajinikanth was singled out, he said, “Definitely, there are other actors all over India, each and every one is doing the same thing which is a national waste. But we want Rajinikanth to set an example by asking his fans to stop this practice as he is receiving the country’s second highest civilian honour.”
On whether he was planning to file more suits, he said, “As of now, we are not planning to file any more suits.”
“He (Rajini) should come forward personally because it is for a good cause. All over India, in rural areas, there are poor, needy people who can’t afford milk also. Because of that, more than 5000 neo-natal deaths happened last year in Karnataka. So that can be stopped all over India. So this has been started here and it is a long process.”
Mannivannan wants the actor to take the lead and set an example and he hopes that others will follow suit.
With the next hearing of the case scheduled for April 11, he added that he is absolutely sure of getting the order in his favour.