On Friday (August 26), the Madras High Court granted permission to a Hindu petitioner to install the idol of Lord Ganesha in her housing unit only after she receives the consent of the local Jamath.
The petitioner, Mahalakshmi, was initially stopped by the local police to bring the idol of the Hindu deity to the Pullakadu Housing Unit in Ukkadum South in Coimbatore district of Tamil Nadu.
In their defence, the cops claimed that the area was “predominantly surrounded by Muslim community” and how the celebration of the Hindu festival could lead to a law and order situation. Aggrieved by the situation, Mahalakshmi was forced to knock the doors of the Madras High Court.
Although Article 25 of the Indian Constitution guarantees the Right to Freedom of Religion, the petitioner felt it necessary to get the consent of the Muslim community to celebrate her festival.
Before the Madras High Court, Mahalakshmi contended that the Jamath Committee has expressed ‘no objection’ to the Hindu festival and even vowed to offer Annadhanam (to distribute food) to the devotees. The case was heard by Justice N Sathish Kumar.
Madras High Court grants permission to install Ganesha’s idol at a housing board colony, where many Muslims reside, after obtaining permission from the local Jamath@SukritiMishra12 reportshttps://t.co/xhtdYziLoR
— LawBeat (@LawBeatInd) August 30, 2022
The Additional Public Prosecutor, appearing for the police, argued that the conduct of Ganesh Chathurthi in the Pullakadu Housing Unit can trigger a law and order problem.
While the Madras High Court could have limited itself to the petitioner’s right to observe her religious festival, it directed Mahalakshmi to file an undertaking at the local police station along with the affidavit of the Jamath Committee.
It is only then that the petitioner can celebrate Ganesh Chathurthi at her housing unit. On top of that, the Court has barred her from taking out any procession with the Ganesha idol.
“…It is made clear that the petitioner shall only install the Vinayakar idol inside their housing unit and celebrate the function and there should not be any procession along with the idol,” Justice N Sathish Kumar said.
By doing so, the Court has played into a long-standing civilisational fear of the Hindu community. With rapid changing demographics, Hindus are worried that their right to freely practice their religion will be curtailed.
OpIndia has reported multiple cases where Hindus were barred from celebrating their festivals in Muslim-dominated areas. The menace was such that even the Madras High Court had to intervene in May last year.
The Madras High Court had then said, “Merely because one religious group is dominating in a particular locality, it cannot be a ground to prohibit from celebrating religious festivals or taking processions of other religious groups through those roads…If religious intolerance is going to be allowed, it is not good for a secular country. Intolerance in any form by any religious group has to be curtailed and prohibited.”
The Judges had then reiterated that the dominance of one religious group in a locality could not be a reason to curtail religious processions of another religious group through the locality. The Court argued that if such a rationale was accepted, then, minority communities would not be able to celebrate their festivals in most parts of India.
This demarcation of Hindu-Muslim areas is exactly what led to the partition in 1947. News reports from 100 years ago talk about the same stone-pelting on Hindu processions for passing through these allegedly Muslim areas, and now Indian liberals want to see that again. Baba Saheb Ambedkar talked about this same violence against Hindu religious processions in the 1920s.
Ambedkar commented on the hate Ms have for Hindu religious processions way back in 1920’s. pic.twitter.com/pMYd7EgMDE
— Nitin Gupta (@Nitin_Rivaldo) April 11, 2022
Islamists have targeted Hindu processions during the festivals of Hanuman Jayanti, and Ram Navami. The Madras High Court’s decision to ban the procession of Ganesh Chaturthi is an affirmation of the invisible ‘Muslim veto.’
The situation is so grim that Hindus, for whom India remains a civilisational State, now require the consent of another community to be able to celebrate their festival. And this is simply because they do not form a numerical majority in a particular area.
Courts have been sermonising the Hindu community for long, even blaming BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma for the gruesome murder of Kanhaiya Lal by Islamists. And each time, the onus has fallen on the Hindus to uphold values of brotherhood and harmony.
It raises an important question in the end: Would the Madras High Court have allowed the installation of the idol of Lord Ganesha in the absence of Jamaat’s consent? Probably not.
