Cannot declare Lord Muruga a "Tamil God", it could damage federal, secular nature of this great Nation: Madras High Court

The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court recently had occasion to emphasise on the secular and federal nature of India while dismissing a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) petition which sought a declaration that Lord Muruga is a "Tamil God" (Thirumurugan v. The State of Tamil Nadu and ors)..The Bench of Justices MM Sundresh and S Ananthi declined to entertain the plea, observing that the declaration sought may endanger the federal and secular fabric of the country. ."The preamble of the Constitution emphasizes on the secular nature of the Country. Seeking a declaration, as sought for, would cause damage to the very fibre of the federal and secular nature of this great Nation. The petitioner may have a justifiable reason to treat Lord Muruga as the Lord of the Tamil Language. It is for him to do so. However, as a State such a request is not feasible for consideration," the order said..The Bench further opined that it may not be appropriate to recognise Lord Muruga alone as the "sole representative of the Tamil Language."."Tamil Language has been enriched by the contribution of various literary personalities. Language has been developed by the praise of God. Hinduism has got its Gods. Seeking to declare one God as the sole representative of the Tamil Language would mean that other literary writings in praise of Gods other than Lord Muruga cannot be recognized. In such view of the matter, the writ petition is not entertained," the Court said. .The petitioner had called on the Court to direct the State to announce that Lord Murugan is Tamil God, and issue a notification to this end in the Official Gazette. The petitioner had earlier sent a representation on the issue to the State on January 7, the Court was told. .In view of the above observations, however, the PIL was dismissed by an order passed on February 4. .PIL to change "Tamil Nadu" to "Tahmizhl Naadu" or "Thamizhl Naadu”.The same day saw the High Court deal with a PIL to change the English form of தமிழ்நாடு, "Tamil Nadu" to "Tahmizhl Naadu" or "Thamizhl Naadu”, as it was originally written in the தமிழ் (Tamil) language (Selvakumar v. State of Tamil Nadu and ors)..This plea was viewed more favourably, with the Court choosing to dispose of the case by directing the State authorities to consider the petitioner's representation.."We hope and trust that the respondents would consider the representations made by the petitioner by taking into consideration of relevant materials including the uniqueness involved in the letter “ழ” as stated by the petitioner", the Court said..The petitioner had placed reliance on Sangam literature to emphasise on the importance of the Tamil letter, "ழ" while raising concern that this letter is missing in the English form of தமிழ்நாடு i.e. "Tamil Nadu.".He submitted that even if it may be difficult to pronounce "ழ", there is no need to omit the same from the English form. Mere pronunciation cannot be a reason to change the word, he argued. .The Court, in turn, acknowledged that the word in focus, i.e. தமிழ் (Tamil) depicts a language. As such, the Bench of Justice Sundresh and Ananthi observed that "the word, which depicts a language, is not required to be used in a different form or context.".The Court proceeded to remark that while it found some force in the petitioner's submissions, it did not wish to interfere with the discretion of the State authorities on the issue. Therefore, it disposed of the plea by directing the State to consider the petitioner's representation in the matter within eight weeks' time. .[Read Orders]