"Shameful": Tamil Nadu BJP Slams INDIA Bloc Over Impeachment Notice Against Judge In Temple Lamp Row

The Tamil Nadu BJP on Tuesday criticised the Opposition MPs for submitting a letter to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla to move a motion in Parliament for the removal of Justice GR Swaminathan of the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court.

Justice Swaminathan had asked the authorities of the Subramaniya Swamy Temple at the Thirupparankundram hill in Madurai to ensure that a lamp is lit at the deepathoon (pillar) near a dargah on the hill. 

In a post on X, Tamil Nadu BJP president Nainar Nagenthran said, "The DMK-Congress alliance, which is attempting to intimidate the judiciary, will be defeated by the people. It is shameful that MPs of the INDIA alliance are moving a resolution to remove Justice GR Swaminathan, who upheld the cultural rights of Tamils through his judgment."

Over 120 opposition MPs - including the Congress' Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and Samajwadi Party boss Akhilesh Yadav - submitted the proposal to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla Tuesday afternoon, underlining the rift between Tamil Nadu's ruling DMK, represented by Kanimozhi, and a member of the state's judiciary.

The BJP said that the Opposition MPs had no moral right to move an impeachment motion against a judge. The party also accused the DMK of targeting the judge because he belongs to the Brahmin community. 

"The stand taken by the DMK and Congress is anti-Brahmin," BJP Spokesperson Narayana Thirupathi told NDTV. 

"DMK and allies had no moral right to move an impeachment motion against the judge," he added. 

On December 1, a single-judge bench of Justice Swaminathan held that the Arulmighu Subramania Swamy temple was duty-bound to light the lamp at the deepathoon, a stone lamp pillar located on the Thiruparankundram hillock close to the dargah.

It had said that doing so would not encroach upon the rights of the adjacent dargah or the Muslim community. When the order remained unimplemented, the single judge passed another order on December 3 permitting devotees themselves to light the lamp and directed the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) to ensure their protection. This led the DMK-led state government to move to the top court.

Accusing the DMK government of appeasement politics in the Thirupparankundram Subramaniaswamy temple case, he said, "No Muslim opposed the Karthigai Deepam being lit on Thirupparankundram top. They cannot oppose it because the property comes within the temple premises. There is no need for impeachment."

The Supreme Court on Friday agreed to consider hearing a plea of the Tamil Nadu government challenging the Madras High Court order.