How Sangh mobilised Thiruparankundram unrest | Let Me Explain 104 | Pooja Prasanna
On December 3, the morning of Karthigai Deepam in Thiruparankundram looked like it always does.
Pilgrims drifting in, vendors settling into their usual spots, the town waking up to a rhythm it knows well.
Karthigai Deepam is a Tamil festival of lights, primarily celebrated by Hindus by lighting oil lamps in households and temples
But this year, something felt different. In the middle of all that familiar bustle, a new and uneasy choreography was playing out.
Vehicles carrying BJP flags lined the road, clusters of men in saffron scarves gathered near tea stalls
There were two arches on the way up the hill to the temple, and police barricades were placed through the area.
Our reporter Abhishek Vijayan was on ground, reporting the events as they unfolded.
The hill is home to two important religious sites. One is the Subramanya Swamy temple, which is considered one of the six sacred abodes or Arupadai veedu of Hindu god Murugan. The second one is the Hazrat Sultan Sikandar Badshah Dargah, a Sufi Islamic shrine built around the tomb of the saint.
For years, these sites and the devotees have coexisted peacefully, with occasional minor scuffles.
So, what changed this year?
The current conflict didn’t begin with the Deepam festival. It began in January this year with a very different issue — animal sacrifice at the Dargah.
The Deepam conflict was an extension of that.
In addition, a December 1 Madras High Court direction by Justice GR Swaminathan that deepam should be lit at the peak of the hill, enthused BJP and other right-wing organisations like Hindu Munnani and VHP and they mobilised in large numbers.
The issue has now snowballed into INDIA bloc MPs asking to move an impeachment motion against Justice GR Swaminathan
So why did this order become controversial?
And how was the unrest organised?
Let me explain.
There are many ways to report news. You can chase headlines, recycle sound bites, and move on. Or you can slow down, dig deeper, and try to understand what’s actually happening beneath the noise.
If you’ve been following TNM, you know which route we take.
And even with the Thirupparankundram dispute, we’ve done exactly that.
For ten months, my colleague Sudipto sifted through court and historical records, spoke to residents, lawyers, government officials and other stakeholders trying to understand what the real contention is, stripped of politics and posturing.
And when December 3 and 4 unfolded, our young colleague Abhishek was on the ground, speaking to people, tracking events in real time, and piecing together what actually happened.
This kind of reporting takes time, patience, and a willingness to resist easy narratives. It’s the only way to understand nuance
With Tamil Nadu heading into elections next year, expect more of this kind of work from us.
But we can’t do it without your support.
So if you want journalism like this, support us.
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Thirupparankundram hill is not just any place, it is considered a sacred landscape.
At the foot lies the temple. On the lower peak sits a Shiva temple and the Uchi Pillaiyar temple. And at the very top stands the dargah.
Tombs dot the flat Nellithoppu below the peak, a space long used by both communities.
There have been disputes about the name of the hill and Jain shrines in the hill, but they have already been settled by the courts.
For many decades now, the customary Karthigai Deepam has been lit near the Uchi Pillaiyar Temple by the temple management, not at the hill’s peak.
But this year, a petitioner went to the high court, on November 7, demanding that the lamp be lit at a stone pillar on the upper peak, which they call Deepathoon.
Though “Deepathoon” literally means lamp pillar, retired officials and archival records say that this specific structure is a British-era theodolite stone, a survey marker, not a ritual lamp post.
The case was listed before Justice GR Swaminathan, who has been criticised for his views that align with right-wing politics.
He had attended RSS events, raised doubts about the originality of the Constitution and has been in other controversies.
In this case, he was tasked with just one question: Can the court order the temple management to light the Deepam at the stone pillar also?
Earlier High Court and Division Bench orders held that courts cannot interfere in such matters, but on December 1, Justice Swaminathan ruled otherwise.
He said worshippers have a right not only to “what is” but “what ought to be,” and directed the temple management to light the lamp at both places on the day of festival, December 3.
That is, on the usual spot near the Pillaiyar temple and at the stone pillar.
The temple soon filed an appeal — but it was found to be in a defective format.
Saying that the temple cannot be said to be aggrieved by the order at all, Justice Swaminathan called the appeal a “ruse” to avoid compliance.
Simultaneously, at Thirupparankundram, large crowds gathered. Not organic but organised and mobilised.
For those accustomed to the coexistence of the temple and the dargah, it was immediately apparent that this year’s festival had acquired a new political charge.
At around 11.45 am, BJP youth wing president SG Suryah arrived and told the media: “This is every Hindu’s dream”.
Like I said earlier, Justice Swaminathan’s order intensified the narrative that lighting the Deepam at the peak was a “restoration” of tradition.
By mid-afternoon, mobilisation became visible:
Loudspeakers started echoing instructions on where to stand and how to move, rather than devotional music
Saffron-clad activists from across the state clustered at strategic points along the climb
A Sangh functionary had confidently estimated that about a thousand people were positioned across the temple complex. He framed their turnout as a natural response to the court’s decision. But the logistics and the volume of people suggested something else: district-level WhatsApp chains, padayatra networks, and party messaging systems were clearly at work.
The state government now blocked the crowd saying there was a clear risk. That the path to the stone pillar at the peak ran dangerously close to the dargah compound.
And opening it, especially with such an influx of outsiders, risked turning a festival into a communal flashpoint.
As the hour of the ceremony neared, something in the crowd’s energy clearly changed.
The chants grew sharper, the crowd at the barricades denser
And soon, the idea of lighting the lamp at the upper pillar wasn’t just a devotional anticipation, it had the weight of a political demand.
When officials proceeded to light the lamp at the Uchchipillaiyar temple, as they have done for a long time, the atmosphere hardened.
Then the crowd started chanting slogans praising Bharath Mata. It was followed by accusations that the state government was suppressing Hindu rights.
While the tensions were escalating at the foot of the hill, at around 5 pm, the petitioners moved a contempt petition. But the judge accepted the state’s argument that it was premature to initiate contempt because the lamps are usually lit at 6 pm.
At 6, the temple management lit the lamp.
Not at the stone pillar, like the petitioners demanded and the court ordered, but at the usual spot.
At 6.05 pm, contempt proceedings were initiated.
The judge said that the fundamental rights of the petitioner and rule of law is at stake and the state administration “decided to cock a snook at this Court’s order.
He also said that he did not order “the execution of anybody” or “demolition of any building”, and that defying this order that has “No irreversible consequence” would send a very bad signal.
He also directed the CISF to escort the petitioners up the hill and warned of “harsh consequences” if the police failed to comply – a development that the right-wing groups quickly spun into a narrative of judicial endorsement.
The petitioners reached the hill steps that were blocked, officers told them that prohibitory orders were now in force and no climb would be allowed. Tensions spiked. Party workers clashed with the police here too, leading to injuries and several detentions.
At 6.45 pm, things started escalating.
SG Suryah attempted to cross the barricade, and invoked his right to worship.
This was a pivotal moment in the mobilisation.
His detention didn’t land as a simple police action. It rippled through the crowd almost instantly, sparking cries of discrimination and accusations that authorities are targeting Hindus, with some even asking “if this was India or Pakistan”.
On paper, the contempt order permitted only a small number of petitioners to go up. On the ground, it looked nothing like that.
Large groups were waiting to push toward the top, and every attempt to advance triggered yet another round of clashes.
Even as these confrontations unfolded, ordinary devotees continued trying to make the climb. For years this had been a familiar festival climb, now it felt like they’d walked into a controlled, almost combative zone. Even the temple’s chariot procession,which normally moves peacefully through town,was halted and redirected.
By 9.30 pm, the climb remained closed, crowds thinned, and the hill settled into an uneasy quiet.
On December 4, the pattern repeated.
Right-wing groups returned.
Slogans sharpened.
Senior leaders including BJP state president Nainar Nagendran were detained.
Now, why are the orders passed by Justice GR Swaminathan so controversial?
First, it enters the centre of a century-old, highly sensitive Hindu–Muslim dispute over the hill’s ownership and customary rights, a conflict previously settled by the Privy Council in 1931, which granted both sides clearly demarcated rights.
The insistence that the Deepam must be lit at the peak is seen by many as reopening a delicate religious balance
Second, critics argue that Justice Swaminathan’s order reshapes a locally accepted religious custom without evidence, bypassing earlier precedents.
A writ petition on the very same prayer, on the very same pillar was rejected earlier..
By specifically saying peace and tranquility should not be disturbed. That is the division bench order. But now a single judge has passed the order. But the government should implement the division bench order of the High Court, that is the judicial hierarchy, that is the judicial discipline.
Third, the state government has argued in its counter that the Deepathoon is actually a theodolite stone, not a religious site, and that the path to it runs dangerously close to the dargah — raising safety and communal concerns.
Fourth, using CISF to enforce a symbolic act with communal implications further blurred lines between the judicial, executive and religious domains.
The DMK government too has to answer certain questions.
The latest row started in December 2024 when Muslims pilgrims were stopped from animal slaughter rituals on the hill and the complaint then was filed by a government officer
Knowing that the BJP and Sangh will jump on the opportunity, why did the govt allow it to fester? This is a question that progressive groups have been asking
A hill long navigated with mutual respect is now the site of a new ideological push.
With the 2026 Assembly elections approaching, Thiruparankundram appears less like a disputed ritual site and more like a testing ground: a place where the right wing can gauge its mobilisation capacity, sharpen its messaging, and attempt to manufacture a new line of communal tension in Tamil Nadu.
Even the RSS chief has signaled that it is a matter of Hindu strength. And it will be resolved accordingly.
But for now, the Tamil nadu govt has stood its ground. making its stand clear, the controversial court order not withstanding.
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Produced by Megha Mukundan, Script by Pooja Prasanna, Research by Azeefa Fathima, Reporting by Abhishek Vijayan, Camera by Ajay R, Satish, Edit by Nikhil Sekhar ET, Dharini Prabharan