Tension prevailed in Thirupparankundram after residents gathered asking for the removal of the flag hoisted by Dargah authorities on the Kallathi tree, the sacred sthala vruksham of the Thirupparankundram Subramania Swamy temple.
A video of the protest, which has since circulated widely on social media, shows visibly distressed women questioning why the flag remained in place even after the religious festival (Sandhanakoodu) connected to it had concluded.
A protesting resident said, “Festival ended days ago. Why hasn’t that flag been removed? It must be taken down. Court ruled in our favor. Why allow it to fly over there now? We hoisted Murugan flags in our street but without anyone’s permission – no one informed us, they removed those flags secretly at night. We don’t know where they have kept them. That’s insulting us, insulting Murugan himself. We won’t tolerate that flag flying on Kallathi tree. It must come down now. The flag must be removed. The flag must be removed, sir. We have not been given the right to light Deepam at Deepathoon, yet they’ve had permission for days to fly it on Kallathi tree – who gave that? Tell us.”
Talking about a structure that was built for the village/town residents to celebrate Hindu deities and festivals, the distressed resident said, “We, the people, united fully, bought this place several years ago through struggle and sacrifice by martyrs. We have the patta (land title) also for this. A police officer asked, ‘Do you have patta for this?’ If I waved it and slapped it on his face, would they all leave our street? We didn’t build this for police. It’s for public festivals, Tamil-style celebrations, worshiping our Hindu gods. We want the key. Get out, all of you. We didn’t build for police. Evict them. We built it to worship Swami (God). We consider it sacred. We won’t wear slippers or anything. We haven’t even entered inside. Except that specific period, no one from us goes in. We’ve protected it so piously. Today, you’re all going in with shoes on. How low will you push us? How much will you disrespect us? Get out, everyone. All must leave. Stay in your police building. If no permission to touch and worship a temple-owned tree, what kind of government is this?”
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