The BJP on Tuesday seized on a ruling by a division bench of Madras High Court allowing a ritualistic deepam (lamp) to be lit atop the Thiruparankundram Hills in Madurai to mount a sharp attack on the ruling DMK-led alliance, accusing it of being “anti-Hindu” and seeking to draw electoral mileage ahead of the Tamil Nadu Assembly polls.

A division bench upheld a December 1 order of a single judge that the DMK government had challenged. The ruling came amid controversy after MPs from the Opposition INDIA bloc moved an impeachment notice in the Lok Sabha last month against the single judge, Justice G.R. Swaminathan, accusing him of “ideological bias”
and of undermining secular principles.

Union commerce minister Piyush Goyal, who has been appointed the BJP’s election in-charge for Tamil Nadu, was deployed at the party headquarters to attack what he termed the DMK’s “appeasement politics” and that of the INDIA bloc.

“Today’s judgment has clearly shown that the DMK and the INDI alliance are anti-Hindu,” Goyal said. He added that the court had rejected the state government’s argument of a potential law and order problem, describing it as an “imaginary ghost”. “This is nothing but appeasement politics by the INDI alliance to favour one community,” he said.

Tamil Nadu is scheduled to go to the polls in April-May, alongside Bengal, Kerala and Assam. The BJP has been attempting to foreground the Hindutva plank in its effort to gain a foothold in the politically challenging southern state. With limited organisational depth and popular appeal on its own, the party is banking on an alliance with the AIADMK and a few smaller parties to expand its footprint.

The court ruling came a day after Union home minister Amit Shah concluded a two-day visit to the state, during which he addressed a party rally and held strategy meetings ahead of the Assembly elections. Shah has emerged as the BJP’s chief poll strategist for the upcoming state elections.

At the media briefing, Goyal strongly foregrounded Hindu and Sanatan Dharma, seeking to portray the ruling DMK and the INDIA bloc as being opposed to the faith of the country’s majority community.

“It is not a coincidence that Tamil Nadu chief minister M.K. Stalin, his son Udhayanidhi and other DMK leaders have repeatedly berated and attacked Sanatan Dharma,” Goyal said.

Referring to Udhayanidhi’s remarks on September 2 calling for the eradication of Sanatan Dharma, he alleged that the subsequent denial of permission for the ritualistic lighting of the lamp during the Tamil Karthigai Deepam festival was linked to the party’s ideological position. “This coincidence should not be ignored,” he said.

The Tamil Nadu government had disallowed the lighting of the lamp atop the hill, citing potential law and order concerns due to the presence of a dargah at the site.

Goyal dismissed the apprehensions as “imaginary”, alleging that the state government was attempting to appease “members of one community” associated with the dargah.

Goyal also accused the INDIA bloc MPs of attempting to intimidate the judiciary by moving an impeachment notice against Justice G.R. Swaminathan, calling it an “anti-Hindu effort”. He said “false allegations” had been levelled against the judge, including charges of being “anti-secular” and of favouring a particular community and political ideology.

Naming Opposition leaders such as Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and Supriya Sule who supported the impeachment notice, Goyal sought to portray them as “anti-Hindu”. He claimed that the court’s ruling had exposed what he described as the INDIA bloc’s “anti-India and anti-Constitutional” conduct.