Tamil Nadu chief minister M. Karunanidhi’s portrait in the temple. Telegraph picture

Tiruchirappalli, June 16: M. Karunanidhi can expect to remain Tamil Nadu’s chief minister for the next five years; but his elevation as a Hindu god has lasted just a single day.

When the DMK chief recently declared that people from all castes could now become temple priests if they knew the rituals, he was counting on support from “rationalists”. And sure enough, the “progressive” statement brought him felicitations from the atheist Dravidar Kazhagam at a function in Thanjavur.

It was the unexpected honour bestowed by a true-blue believer that left his party with a red face.

Narayana Bhattar alias Kannan, priest of a village temple 10 km from here, was so impressed by the chief minister’s decision that he put his portrait up on the wall behind the Krishna idol.

Angry villagers and embarrassed DMK leaders got the portrait removed the next day and virtually forced Kannan to leave the village, Kollidam Tollgate, but the priest is unrepentant.

“I wanted to pay tribute to Karunanidhi for abolishing all distinctions before the Almighty,” Kannan told The Telegraph over his cell phone from an undisclosed place.

The villagers said the priest had always been something of a maverick. A school dropout and a self-styled “spiritual vagabond”, he had arrived in the village in January this year, found the temple in a state of neglect, cleaned it and begun worshipping there.

A few days ago, he handed out pamphlets in the village announcing his intention to put up Karunanidhi’s portrait in the temple, explaining that the “wise words and deeds of elderly men should be seen as God’s own words and deeds”.

“Many people objected,” said Seeni Ramaraj, local panchayat president. “It is not our custom to worship the portrait of someone alive.”

The temple, which had for years been ignored by worshippers, however, became an instant attraction with hundreds flocking to see “the new deity”. An alarmed police asked the priest to heed the villagers’ advice and get rid of the portrait.

The DMK’s Tiruchirappalli district chief and now state transport minister, K.N. Nehru, too, rang up Ramaraj and said the portrait must be removed as it would not only offend people but also send “wrong signals about Karunanidhi’s health”.

But Kannan argued: “If the portraits of Sai Baba and the Kanchi acharya can be worshipped, why object to the honour for Karunanidhi?”

He added that the decision to open up priesthood for all castes wasn’t a new idea: Vishnu had merrily accepted the offerings of a low-caste mystic saint, Thirupaan Azhwar, and Shiva the eyes donated by Kannappa Nayanar, a hunter.