MADURAI: Andhra Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan on Sunday slammed “fake secularists” for targeting the Hindu faith in the name of freedom of expression and called for respecting all religions.
He said the ‘secularists’ often criticise Hindu practices, but they don’t question other religions in India.
“A Christian can be a Christian, a Muslim can be a Muslim but they have a problem if a Hindu is Hindu. If one is Hindu, they call him communal. This is their fake secularism. Who are you to question my belief. We don’t question your belief, you should follow that decency,” he said.
Addressing a massive “Muruga Bhakthargal Maanadu”, a conference of devotees of Lord Murugan, here, Kalyan said, “I respect Christianity, Islam. My plea is don’t disrespect my faith.” The conference was organised by the Hindu Munnani (Hindu Front) and saw the participation of various Hindu organisations, outfits, pontiffs and leaders of the AIADMK and the BJP, including former TN BJP president K Annamalai.
Kalyan said, “A political party chief questioned why Murugan maanadu is organised in TN, why not in UP or Gujarat? By asking such questions, he is attempting to divide the society.” He expressed fears that such questions may be directed tomorrow at Lord Shiva or Goddess Amman and said such a thought is “very very dangerous”.
Kalyan said the word secularism was a “convenient word” for a lot of people. “Specifically to atheists who don’t believe in god; they should not believe in all gods. In India, they wouldn’t believe in Hindu gods. Secularism means no discrimination against any religion, but for them, secularism means no discrimination against any religion except Hinduism,” he said.
The Jana Sena Party founder said freedom of expression was one “great weapon given by the Constitution”. It has become common to target Hindu gods in the name of freedom of expression.
“This has to change. If this doesn’t change, it would be very difficult to sustain our religion, faith,” he said.
Annamalai said, “We are not enemies to anyone, only trying to assert our rights. Hindus are enemies only to those who consider us enemies. Our Hindu culture shouldn’t be destroyed and there shouldn’t be religious conversion. In Tamil Nadu, there is a situation where spirituality, literature and Tamil are segregated. But these cannot be separated.”
TN BJP president Nainar Nagenthran said, “We are planning to merge cultures – Tamil and Telugu, and also Tamil and Malayalam. This maanadu is one such bridging initiative.”
Hindu Munnani chief Kadeswara Subramniam, local AIADMK MLAs and former ministers R B Udayakumar and Sellur K Raju, BJP leaders H Raja, Tamilisai Soundarajan, Pon Radhakrishnan and prominent BJP functionaries participated.
Later, the ‘Kanda Sashti Kavacham’ was mass recited at the venue. Six resolutions were passed at the conference.