RSS Sarsanghchalak Dr Mohan Bhagwat said that the ongoing dispute at Thiruparankundram in Madurai does not presently require escalation to the national level, expressing confidence that Hindus in Tamil Nadu are sufficiently mobilised to secure a favourable resolution.
Replying to a question on the matter during the “RSS 100 Years of Sangh Journey – New Horizons” event in Tiruchirappalli on 10 December 2025, Dr Bhagwat said, “The Tirupurankundram issue, if it needs escalation it will be done but I don’t think it needs so. The matter is now sub judice, let it resolve.
The awakening of Hindus in Tamil Nadu, I think it is enough to bring about the desired result. But if at all it is needed, the Hindu organisations are working in Tamil Nadu also. They will let us know, then we will think about it.
But at present I think the issue can be resolved here only on basis of the Hindus’ strength in Tamil Nadu only. We will not need to escalate it but one thing is pakka that issue would be resolved favourably for Hindus. That is definite. Whatever it takes for that we will do.”
Thiruparankundram Hill in Madurai, home to the ancient Subramanya Swamy (Murugan) Temple and one of the six Abodes of Bhagwan Murugan, has been at the centre of an intensifying religious dispute. Central to the present controversy is the ritual lighting of the Karthigai Deepam atop the hill, a tradition that has been practised for generations as part of temple worship.
The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court, on December 1, 2025, permitted the lighting of the Karthigai Deepam atop Thiruparankundram hill’s Deepathoon and directed police protection for the ritual; this was reaffirmed on December 4, 2025, with the Court rejecting the State’s objections and asserting that Deepathoon lies within the temple’s limits and the tradition must continue. Subsequently, on December 9, 2025, the Court summoned the Tamil Nadu Chief Secretary and the ADGP (Law and Order) to appear on December 17 in a contempt hearing over alleged non-compliance with its directives.
On these developments, Members of Parliament from the INDI bloc, led by the DMK and supported by several opposition parties, submitted an impeachment notice on 9 December 2025 seeking the removal of Justice G. R. Swaminathan of the Madras High Court’s Madurai Bench. The motion, handed to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, was backed by around 120 MPs from the opposition alliance.
Since 2011, the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI), a subsidiary political outfit of the banned terror organisation Popular Front of India (PFI), has been raising issues by erecting a flag near a lamp post on Thiruparankundram hill. The notoriously fundamentalist and violent Islamist group has also been claiming the right to sacrifice goats, cows, and chickens at the sacred hill, in some instances even brazenly threatening the police. The hilltop is claimed as Waqf property, with the construction of a dargah — a practice usually considered un-Islamic by several Islamic scholars.
Hindus have been continuously fighting to thwart attempts to Islamise the hilltop through all legal means and to reclaim the sanctity of the hill and its traditions.
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