In a significant legal blow to the DMK-led Tamil Nadu government, the Madurai bench of the Madras High Court on Tuesday upheld a previous order allowing the lighting of the Karthigai Deepam lamp atop the Thiruparankundram hills. The ruling effectively clears the way for a religious ritual that has been at the centre of a tense standoff between the state, a local dargah, and Hindu devotees.
The dispute focuses on an ancient stone pillar located near the Hazarath Sultan Sikkandar Badhusha Avuliya Dargah. While devotees have long sought to light a lamp there during the Karthigai Deepam festival, the state government and the Waqf Board fought the move, citing potential law-and-order risks and claiming the pillar actually belonged to the dargah. However, a division bench of Justice G Jayachandran and Justice KK Ramakrishnan didn't buy those arguments, noting that the state failed to provide any "formidable evidence" that religious scriptures (agama shastra) actually prohibited the practice.
The judges were particularly blunt in their assessment of the state's security concerns. They described the idea that lighting a single lamp one day a year would destroy public peace as "ridiculous." In a sharp critique, the bench remarked that such a disturbance would likely only happen if it were "sponsored by the state itself," adding that they hoped no government would stoop to such levels to further a political agenda.
This legal battle has been brewing since December, when a single judge first ordered the temple management to light the lamp. When the state failed to comply, the judge even gave permission for the devotees to do it themselves, leading to a series of appeals and pending contempt proceedings. Throughout the hearing, the state’s Advocate General and the HR&CE Department argued that the devotees had no enforceable legal right to change long-standing customs, while the dargah management claimed the single judge hadn't given them a fair chance to present their case.
The ruling was immediately seized upon by the Bharatiya Janata Party State President K Annamalai, who took to X (formerly Twitter) to praise the court's stance. He echoed the judges' sentiments, questioning how a "mighty state" could be so afraid of a lamp and accusing the government of hiding behind an "imaginary ghost" of law-and-order issues to prevent a religious ritual.
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