south

Updated: Oct 02, 2019 18:17 IST

In an interesting development, AMMK’s general secretary TTV Dhinakaran on Wednesday echoed Tamil Nadu’s ruling AIADMK and Bharatiya Janata Party’s stand and welcomed the move of offering Bhagavad Gita as an elective in Anna University’s curriculum.

Controversy had erupted last week when Anna University offered Bhagavad Gita as an elective course for philosophy. DMK president MK Stalin had called it as an attempt to force Sanskrit in the Dravidian land.

Other opposition leaders, including MDMK general secretary and Rajya Sabha MP Vaiko, Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK) leader and MP Thol Thirumavalavan, had objected to the university’s move. DMK’s student wing, led by its legislator CVMP Ezhilarasan, had staged a protest against this decision on Tuesday.

AIADMK leader and Tamil official language minister Mafoi K Pandiarajan though welcomed the decision of Anna University. “Introducing Bhagavad Gita as a part of the syllabus of Anna University is a good move. Bhagavad Gita is not a book of a certain religion. Gita reflects the tradition and cultural values of Indian sub-continent. It should be considered as a book enriched with cultural aspects of India,” Pandiarajan had told the media.

BJP leaders in the state had also defended Anna University’s decision to offer Gita as an elective course in the syllabus.

The support of TTV Dhinakaran, who is a running splinter group of AIADMK called AMMK, is surprising as usually the party has been at odds with the stance of the AIADMK. “Bhagavad Gita is beyond religion. Anna University has not offered Bhagavad Gita into engineering, physics or chemistry. They just introduced Gita in philosophy as an elective. So, there is nothing wrong in that. Even Muslims and Christians are respecting Gita. Like Tamil Thirukkural, Bhagavad Gita too holds numerous values. So, it is inappropriate to make a controversy over this issue. I support this move of the university,” Dhinakaran said.

After the protests by opposition parties, Anna University vice-chancellor Soorappa had clarified that students could learn it as an elective subject and not as a compulsory one.

Apart from commenting on the Gita controversy issue, Dhinakaran also said that attempts are on for an early release of Jayalalithaa’s close aide and Dhinakaran’s aunt VK Sasikala who is serving a four-year jail term in a disproportionate assets case since 2017. “We have been taking legal steps for the early release of our leader Sasikala. We hope that she will be released soon,” Dhinakaran added.

The pro-Bhagavad Gita statement is being read by analysts as AMMK’s attempts to patch-up with BJP ahead of the early release of Sasikala. Analysts also say that that Dhinakaran is only echoing Jayalalithaa’s soft-Hindutva stance.

“While DMK patriarch Karunanidhi was alive, he followed the Periyar EV Ramasamy’s atheistic principles. But Jayalalithaa reaped the anti-DMK and pro-Hindu votes through her soft Hindu stance. Since Dhinakaran has been claiming himself as the true political heir of Jayalalithaa, he has just reflected Jaya’s attitude on such issues,” said S Selvaraj, a senior political observer.