Efforts are also being made to ‘secularize’ the Hindu festival Pongal. Tamil Nadu Deputy Chief Minister Udayanidhi Stalin accompanied the women wearing burqa and crosses in celebrating Pongal. He is accused that during this time the Hindu woman was made to stand aside. People have raised questions on social media saying that Udayanidhi did not consider it appropriate to even take off his shoes while cooking food on this festival of good harvest and worship of Sun.
The festival is being celebrated across the country with the Uttarayan of the Sun on Tuesday (January 14, 2024). While in North India it is celebrated by the name of Khichdi and Makar Sankranti, in South India people are celebrating it by the name of Pongal. This is a big festival of Tamil Nadu. In this festival, food is traditionally cooked in earthen pots on a wood stove. Sun God, Indra, cows and symbols related to farming are worshipped.
On this occasion, a photo of Tamil Nadu CM Stalin celebrating this festival has gone viral. In this, he is serving prasad to a girl amidst a woman wearing hijab wearing shoes. People have raised questions about him wearing these shoes during this period. Some people have called the inclusion of women wearing hijab an attempt to make the Pongal festival secular and an insult to Hindus.
Celebrating Pongal wearing shoes. DMK knows nothing but to insult Hindus. https://t.co/Z95RdOgxhA
—Scarlet Heart
(@_Saffron_Girl_) January 12, 2025
Similar questions have been raised on a photo of CM Stalin’s son Udayanidhi. In this, he is seen making prasad in a Pongal vessel along with a woman wearing a neck cross and a woman in a burqa. Probably a Hindu woman is standing on the side. Apart from this, he is also wearing shoes.
After this photo of him surfaced, many people raised questions. TV anchor Sumant Raman wrote, “No fire, no pot cooking, shoe-wearing and (presumably) Hindu woman being pushed to the shore for a Hindu festival. A great picture showing everything that is wrong with Dravidism. Can’t the people organizing these events do a better job of photo ops? Time to get a new PR agency.”
No flame, nothing boiling in the pot, wearing shoes and the (presumably) Hindu lady pushed to the edge for what is a Hindu festival. A perfect photo for all that is wrong with Dravidianism. Can those who arrange these events not do a better photo op job? Time for a new PR Agency.… https://t.co/GOshIepO3V
— Sumanth Raman (@sumanthraman) January 13, 2025
One person called it a fancy dress competition on social media.
group photo after fancy dress competition in kindergarten https://t.co/C4uqprRust
— mendelpeas (@AceAmarX) January 14, 2025
Some people claimed that Pongal is not a Hindu festival. However, this claim does not seem to be true because in Pongal the Sun is worshiped as a deity. The Vedas of Hindus also talk about Sun worship. In Islam, no one can be worshiped except Allah. Pongal is also mentioned in Tamil literature, which is also called Sangam literature. Although its name has not been written clearly, many things related to it have also been written.
There is also a story related to Pongal of Lord Krishna lifting Govardhan and Lord Indra. Apart from this, the story of Lord Shiva and Nandi is also associated with Pongal. In this case, it is a Hindu festival only. Hindus believe in worshiping cows, sun and crops. Secondly, if this was not a Hindu festival then it would have been celebrated in other Muslim-Christian countries also.
