After BJP's Ram temple blitzkrieg, Tamil Nadu plans global Lord Murugan fest

CHENNAI: While BJP is still in a celebratory mood ahead of the general elections over fulfilling its promise to build a Ram temple in Ayodhya, Tamil Nadu govt headed by DMK has turned to Lord Murugan, planning an international conference on the deity widely referred to as the 'Tamil god'.
"The conference will be held in June or July by involving devotees of Lord Murugan across the world.There will be exhibitions, conclaves and research papers submitted on Lord Murugan at the conference," Hindu religious & charitable endowments minister P K Sekarbabu told TOI.
Political parties in Tamil Nadu turning to Lord Murugan is not new.
BJP had in 2020 conducted 'Vel yatras' when L Murugan was state unit president. And Naam Tamilar Katchi leader Seeman associated his party with Lord Murugan by saying that Tamils were descendants of the deity.
But turning to god is a first for the DMK.
BJP was quick to criticise the DMK. "First they (DMK) copied the schemes of the Union govt and pasted stickers on them. Now they are copying our ideology and doing politics," said BJP state secretary R Srinivasan.
"Lord Murugan cannot be restricted to just Tamil Nadu as he is worshipped across the country. People of Tamil Nadu will not fall for such ploys," said Srinivasan.
Sekar Babu said there was no politics involved in conducting the international conference and state govt has been spending on Lord Murugan since it came to power. "Like the 'Muruga, Muruga' slogans, we have slogans such as 'Shiva, Shiva' when we worship Lord Shiva and worship Lord Perumal too," Sekarbabu said.
"We have included Tiruchendur Murugan temple in the master plan of state govt and allotted ₹300 crore to renovate the temple. We have also allotted ₹100 crore to renovate the Palani Murugan temple and the consecration ceremony was conducted in Tamil," Sekarbabu said.