Sanatana Dharma row | Hindu Munnani and BJP members grabbed temple lands, HR&CE Minister P.K. Sekarbabu tells Madras High Court

Minister says they had filed a writ of quo warranto against him because he had retrieved those properties, worth several hundred crores of rupees, from their illegal occupation

P.K. Sekarbabu told the court that 5,780.97 acres of temple property worth ₹5,334.08 crore had been retrieved from illegal occupation since he assumed office as HR&CE Minister in May 2021.

“Hindu Munnani and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) persons had grabbed temple lands worth several hundred crores of rupees. I have redeemed those properties from illegal enjoyment and hence they got irritated and filed this writ of quo warranto petition against me,” Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR&CE) Minister P.K. Sekarbabu told the Madras High Court on Tuesday.

In a counter-affidavit filed before Justice Anita Sumanth, the Minister said 5,780.97 acres of temple property worth ₹5,334.08 crore had been retrieved from illegal occupation since he assumed office as HR&CE Minister in May 2021. Of the total extent, a very conservative estimate itself would show that lands worth ₹162.41 crore had been recovered from “Hindutva persons,” he contended.

“Their self claimed religious faith is only to enjoy temple properties illegally on permanent basis. Since I made efforts with the officers of the HR&CE department to redeem those properties, they have filed the writ petition (questioning the authority under which he was continuing to be a legislator despite participating in a conclave on annihilation of Sanatana Dharma) in a mala fide manner,” the counter-affidavit charged.

Senior counsel N. Jothi, representing the Minister, told Justice Sumanth that the averments made by the Minister in the counter-affidavit remain uncontroverted by the writ petitioner J. Kishore Kumar who was admittedly an office-bearer of Hindu Munnani but had claimed to have filed the case in his personal capacity. He accused the petitioner of shedding crocodile tears by misusing the judicial forum.

Mr. Jothi argued not all followers of Hinduism need to follow Sanatana Dharma, too, which stems from Manusmriti and promotes caste system, Sati (the practice of women jumping into their husband’s funeral pyre) and untouchability. He said the Minister was a staunch Hindu who believes in the constitutional principles of equality and not that of discrimination between human beings.

Referring to several books as well as Supreme Court judgments on the issue, he contended that Sanatana Dharma was a compendium of Aryan laws which would not apply to Tamils who had been practising Hinduism and worshipping a host of deities much before the introduction of Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva. He said Hinduism had evolved over the years through additions and deletions.

He also insisted on imposing heavy costs on the writ petitioner for having filed a case against the basic structure of the Constitution. “He wants your lordship to write a judgement accepting Sanatana Dharma which would indirectly lead to accepting caste system. If Sanatana Dharma, as propounded by Manusmriti, is accepted, then we will be overriding Article 17 (abolition of untouchability),” he said.

After Mr. Jothi completed his arguments, the judge adjourned the matter to Wednesday for hearing senior counsel R. Viduthalai and P. Wilson representing Member of Parliament A. Raja and Sports Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin against whom too individual writ of quo warranto petitions had been filed.