TN Shared Sacred Hill Row: Hindu Outfit Wants Dargah to Not Hoist Ceremonial Flag For Festival
The Wire Staff
Real journalism holds power accountable
Since 2015, The Wire has done just that.
But we can continue only with your support.
New Delhi: A Hindu outfit in Tamil Nadu has submitted a petition to the Madurai district collector K.J. Praveen, demanding that the administration of the Sikandar Badusha Dargah is prevented from hoisting the ceremonial flag for the sandanakoodu festival on a tree that the outfit has termed as “sacred.”
Hindu Makkal Katchi (HMK) chief M. Solaikannan has stated in his petition that the dargah administration hoisted a red flag which has a crescent symbol. He said that the flag has been hoisted on the sacred and historically-significant ‘thalaviricham kallathi tree’, which belongs to the Thiruparankundram temple, reported New Indian Express.
“Dargah administration is also planning to hoist the same flag again on the day of the sandanakoodu festival. It must be stopped,” said Solaikannan.
He also demanded that the red flag be removed, and a flag with rooster emblem representing the temple, be hoisted there.
On the other hand, another petition has been submitted to the district administration by advocate S. Vanchinathan of the Madurai Federation for Religious Harmony, who has said that two stones near the dargah mistaken for deepathoon (stone pillar) are actually Geometrical Trigonometrical (GT) survey markers established in 1808-09 and 1871.
He has said that this information has been confirmed by documents obtained under the Right to Information (RTI) Act from the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) by one J Abdul Jabbar in 2022.
Vanchinathan has stated that the real Nayak-era deepathoon is located near the Uchipillayar Temple on top of the Tiruparankundram Murugan Temple.
The advocate added that previously courts had stopped attempts to light lamps near the survey stones in 1862 and 1912, noting that there has never been a tradition of lighting lamps in the area and that such acts could disturb public order, reported New Indian Express.
The newspaper could not reach Arulmigu Subramaniyaswamy Temple executive officer N. Yagna Narayanan for comments.
In the first week of November 2025, the HMK, Hindu Munnani, Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and Hindu Tamilar Peravai had approached the Madras high court’s Madurai bench, seeking permission to light the Karthigai Deepam (a sacred lamp-lighting ritual observed annually in Tamil Nadu) on a stone pillar near the dargah, claiming it is the traditional ‘deepa sthambam’ – the place where the light should be lit. Justice G.R. Swaminathan agreed and ordered that the lamp be lit there, with police protection.
The Tamil Nadu government had refused, arguing that lighting the lamp so close to the dargah would disturb communitarian harmony. Protests by Hindu organisations followed and clashes broke out. Section 144 restrictions were imposed and the dispute quickly escalated into a political flashpoint. (Section 163 of the BNSS, which replaced the older Criminal Procedure Code, provides the equivalent power to restrict gatherings.)
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and groups claiming to represent the Hindus accuse the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) government of denying Hindus their rights for what they call is “minority appeasement”, while the DMK and Muslim stakeholders of the dargah say Hindutva outfits are provoking communal tension on what has been a historically shared hill.
This article went live on December eleventh, two thousand twenty five, at thirty-five minutes past four in the afternoon.The Wire is now on WhatsApp. Follow our channel for sharp analysis and opinions on the latest developments.