Madurai: Angry devotees blocked Minister Nirmal Kumar’s car after they were not allowed to witness the consecration ceremony at the Madurai Meenakshi Amman Temple. At that time, they fired a barrage of questions, saying, “You came to power by the votes of the common people, not VIPs.”
The consecration ceremony of the Madurai Meenakshi Amman Temple took place today (Sept. 17) after 17 years. At 7:35 a.m., holy water was poured into the temple kalasam, and kumbha water was sprinkled on the devotees.
To view the temple consecration ceremony from the upper floor of the temple, passes were issued and entry was allowed for 9,000 people, including VIPs, donors, judges, and officials, as well as around 2,000 devotees selected by lottery from among those who had registered online under the name of public admission. For VIPs and for security reasons, no members of the public were allowed on the four Chithirai streets.
However, devotees who had gathered around the temple since midnight yesterday to witness the consecration ceremony were not allowed into the Chithirai streets. All the routes leading from the Masi and Avani Moolai streets to the Chithirai streets were blocked with barricades. As a result, devotees gathered only on Avani Moolai Street and Masi Street and, during the consecration, viewed and worshipped the towers from there.
Since devotees were allowed only up to Chithirai Street on the route from South Masi Street to the Amman shrine, many were able to stand there and worship the East Gopuram from a distance.
At this point, after the kumbabishekam was completed and Minister Nirmalkumar came out in his car, devotees blocked and surrounded his car and fired a barrage of questions at him. “You did not win just because VIPs voted for you. It is because we, the general public, voted for you that you have come to power,” they asked him, and requested, “Please allow us to have darshan of the temple tower.” However, the minister left without saying anything.
Regarding this, devotees said, “People from both poor and wealthy backgrounds have come to see this consecration ceremony. Some have even come after borrowing money. But it is disappointing that we are not being allowed inside to see the towers.
Are only VIPs who travel by car human beings? VIPs did not come to power just because they voted. They came to power only because we, the general public, also voted. If it had been announced in advance that only VIPs should come, we would not have come,” they said.
Commotion as devotees shouted slogans against the TVK government:
After the consecration ceremony, a large number of devotees had gathered in the jewelry shop bazaar to enter the temple. They asked the police to allow them into the temple through Chithirai Street. Since the police refused, the crowd increased. At that time, Minister Nirmal Kumar, who arrived there, climbed onto the police watchtower and stood there to pacify the devotees. He requested them to remain calm and said that devotees would be allowed into the temple only after 10 o’clock. Until then, he asked them to sit quietly. The devotees, refusing to accept this, raised various slogans against the minister and the TVK government, creating a tense atmosphere.