Founder Ramagopalan | Founded 1980 | |
Ideology Hindutva
Indian nationalism
Integral humanism
Conservatism | ||
Hindu Munnani is a religious and cultural organization based in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu which was formed to defend the Hinduism and protect Hindu religious monuments.
Contents
History
Hindu Munnani was founded in 1980 or 1982 by Shri Ramagopalan in the backdrop of the Meenakshipuram conversions. Since then, it has been lobbying for the rights of the Hindus, fighting the Islamic right-wing and radical Islamic political groups and vehemently opposing Christian conversions.
Objectives
The Hindu Munnani website describes its objectives as follows:
Activities
The Hindu Munnani first came to limelight in 1982 when it began to mobilize the Hindu population of Ramanathapuram district in response to the Meenakshipuram conversions by Ishaatul Islam Sabha of South India Since then, the Hindu Munnani has often espoused the cause of Hindus, the Hindu religion and Hindu culture.
However, the most remarkable achievement of the Hindu Munnani was the organization of Vinayaka Chathurthi processions in Tamil Nadu. On 16 May 2006, the Hindu Munnani organized the Silver Jubilee celebrations of the installation of the shivalinga in the Jalakanteswarar temple in Vellore
Controversies
Right from its genesis, the Hindu Munnani was involved in a number of controversies. Its genesis was coeval with the Meenakshipuram conversions and the Hindu-Muslim and Hindu-Christian riots which followed. On 19 February 1981, about 200 Dalit families in the village of Meenakshipuram in the Tirunelveli district of Tamil Nadu were converted to Islam by a group of Muslims and the name of their village was changed to Rehmatpuram. The Hindu Munnani was active in organizing a mass movement to bring the converted Dalits back into the Hindu fold. In March 1982, when riots broke up between Hindus and Christians at Mandaikadu in Kanyakumari district, the Hindu Munnani played an active role.
In 2017, the union secretary of Hindu Munnai with four others was booked for allegedly raping a dalit teenaged girl who was in a relationship with the secretary under Goonda Act at Ariyalur district in Tamil Nadu. The partially decomposed cadaver of the girl who was also pregnant for one and half months was recovered by police from an unused well.
Attacks by Islamic extremists
The Vinayaga Chathurthi celebrations organized by the Hindu Munnani were often accompanied by sporadic incidents of communal violence. In 1993, there were bomb attacks made on the R.S.S. state headquarters at Chintadripet, Chennai. Islamic organizations were found guilty for the blasts and a crackdown was launched on extremist Islamic organizations. During the visit of BJP leaders Advani and Vajpayee to Coimbatore in 1998, a series of 13 blasts rocked the city killing over 58 people.
Recently, there have been clashes between the Hindu Munnani and the DMK over the remarks made by BJP leader Vedanti on DMK President and Chief Minister Karunanidhi. DMK cadres attacked the Hindu Munnani state headquarters in Chennai on motorbikes.
Thirukovilur Sundaram
In 1981, Hindu Munnani leader, Thirukovilur Sundaram was murdered at R. S. Puram in Coimbatore by Hindu thuva.
Veera Ganesh
A Muslim platform speaker called Abdul Latheef who ridiculed Hinduism in a public speech was murdered by terrorists. In retaliation, a Hindu Munnani activist called Veera Ganesh was stabbed to death in Coimbatore on 30 August 1989.
Ramagopalan
Several assassination attempts have been made on the life of Hindu Munnani founder and President Ramagopalan. Another leader of the Hindu Munnani and State President of the organization, Ramagopalan succumbed to stab wounds.
S Vellaiappan
He was a senior leader of Hindu Munnani in Vellore. He was murdered by a gang of 8 people when he was headed towards Ramakrishna Math on his motorbike July 2013.
K.P. S. Suresh Kumar
K P Suresh was the president of the Hindu Munnani for Thiruvallur East district. He was originally from Kanyakumari. He was murdered by a gang of Muslim terrorist outfit, Al Ummah, in June 2014. Three members namely, Mohammed Samiuddin, Abdul Shameem and Sadiq, of the outfit were arrested by the police in August 2014.
Jeevaraj
He was Hindu Munnani's Thirunelveli town secretary. He was murdered in front of his house at Sankarankoil by three unidentified men in July 2014.
C Sasikumar
C Sasikumar, 36, was returning home on a two-wheeler when the gang chased him on motorcycles and attacked him with sickles. He suffered 11 cut injuries and was struggling for life. The gang managed to flee. The victim was later rushed to a private hospital, where he died. His body was taken to Coimbatore Medical College and Hospital (CMCH) for postmortem.The Hindu Munnani state president said his organisation’s patience was wearing thin, as the state government has failed to prevent a series of attacks on its workers. Kadeswara C Subramaniam, the State president of the Munnani, listed a series of attacks on his cadre including three murders.
Other controversies
In November 2007, a photo of Tamil actress Kushboo sitting cross-legged with slippers in front of idols of Hindu goddesses landed the actress in the middle of a huge controversy. A complaint was lodged by Gurumurthy a Hindu Munnani leader. The Hindu Munnani President Rama Gopalan said that Kushboo's act was unbecoming of a public figure and demanded a public apology from her. In June 2008, the Hindu Munnani threatened to block Kamal Hassan's film Dasavatharam on the ground that certain scenes in the film affected the sentiments of Hindus.
In December 1993, on the first anniversary of the Babri Masjid demolition, there was widespread violence in the Kottaimedu area of Coimbatore. Violence also occurred during the fifth anniversary of the demolition in 1997 and also during the aftermath of the Coimbatore bomb blasts in 1998.