If there was ever proof that the secular establishment sees Hindu rights as a threat, the impeachment campaign against Justice GR Swaminathan is it.
For decades, MPs who now parade as champions of “judicial integrity” have watched judges flirt with corruption, bend the law for political patrons, and sermonise against Hindu traditions. Not once did they reach for Article 124.
Yet the moment a judge insists that a Hindu ritual be allowed in accordance with tradition and court orders, 100+ INDIA bloc MPs erupt like an offended priesthood.
A Rare Judge Who Refused to Play by Their Script
Justice Swaminathan crossed the one red line India’s old ideological ecosystem will never tolerate – He refused to treat Hindu traditions as inferior or negotiable.
His Deepam order at Thirupparankundram did not create new rights. It simply restored what always existed. But to a political class used to vetoing Hindu practices through “law and order” excuses, that alone made him dangerous.
So dangerous that Parliament had to be weaponised.
So urgent that MPs who couldn’t be bothered to read half the judgments they criticise suddenly became constitutional purists.
A Judge Refuses to Bend to the DMK – and That Is His ‘Crime’?
Justice Swaminathan’s order did not disturb public order; it disturbed political order. He reminded the Tamil Nadu government that it cannot arbitrarily suppress Hindu customs, the rights of lay citizens living in the state, under the pretext of “law and order”.
In a state where the ruling party routinely inserts itself into temple administration, this was sacrilege.
The result? Over 100 MPs signed an impeachment notice. MPs who don’t know (probably) where Thirupparankundram is on the map, how it is pronounced, its significance, even.
They signed it not because the judge was corrupt.
Not because he violated procedure.
But because he refused to bow to a government, their ally’s government, that treats Hindu practices as threats.
The Caste Subtext: A Brahmin Judge Defying the Dravidian Establishment
To pretend caste has nothing to do with this would be intellectually dishonest.
The DMK ecosystem has, for years, mobilised its base by demonising Brahmins as symbols of imagined oppression. A Brahmin judge asserting judicial independence, especially in a case involving Hindu tradition, is a nightmare scenario for a party that relies on Brahmin-baiting as a political identity marker.
The attack on Justice Swaminathan fits cleanly into that long-standing ideological script. His caste makes him an easier target.
His rulings make him a necessary target.
And Tamil Nadu’s political class knows it.
And the abuses? Have you seen any other judge in Tamil Nadu being abused for their caste? When Justice Senthil Kumar was just mentioned and mildly criticised, the citizen was thrown in jail. And when abuses poured from the Dravidianist quarters against Justice GR Swaminathan, the ruling dispensation, encouraged it.
Where Was This Energy When Judges Actually Violated Public Trust?
Judges accused of bribery?
Silence.
Judges whose comments openly belittled Hindu beliefs?
Silence.
Judges whose orders gave comfort to extremist groups?
Silence.
But one judge who refuses to reduce Hindu citizens’ rights to a footnote – Impeach him immediately! Mobilise the entire alliance. Draft emotional press statements. Cry about “secularism under threat.”
It would be funny if it wasn’t so revealing.
The Real Target Is the Judiciary’s Space to Protect Hindu Rights
The impeachment attempt is meant to send a message to every judge in India:
Uphold minority claims → celebrated.
Uphold Hindu claims → impeached.
This is not about one ruling; it is about warning future benches. Judicial independence is tolerable only when it conforms to the ideological preferences of the political class.
A judge who upholds secularism is fine, he/she is the best, in fact.
A judge who upholds Hindu rights is dangerous. This is the perverse logic at play.
The I.N.D.I Bloc’s Reaction Reveals More About Them Than About Swaminathan
The great irony is that the only time these MPs invoked the Constitution’s most serious punitive mechanism was to punish a Hindu religious victory. Not for corruption. Not for misconduct. Not for ethical lapses.
For a lamp on a hill.
A Deepam that has exposed a deeper rot.
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