Ban the Thiravidar NGO instead, says Papparaidu

Selangor human resources and poverty eradication exco V Papparaidu called for the ban of Malaysia Thiravidar Humanitarian Organisation following calls from the association against the Navarathiri celebration and prayers Goddess Saraswathi.

“It is not prayers to the Goddess that needs to be banned. It is the Thiravidar Organisation that is against the Rukun Negara principle – Believe in God – that needs to be banned.

“We should all call for the banning of this organisation. Instead of doing good for the society, they are doing unnecessary things.

“Their activities also must be boycotted,” Papparaidu who is also Banting state assemblyman said in a Facebook post written in Tamil.

Attached was the image of the statement from the association chairman only known as Naga Panchu.

In the statement, the NGO called for the ban of prayers Goddess Saraswathi in Tamil schools. Naga Panchu claimed that the prayers was a waste of time in Tamil schools.

Hindus in Malaysia are currently observing Navarathri – a period of nine days when Hindus pray to the feminine aspect of the divine.

One of the three divine forms is Goddess Saraswathi and she is associated to knowledge.

The NGO meanwhile claimed that the poster that went viral on social media since yesterday was fake and disassociated themselves from the poster.

It however reiterated Naga Panchu’s statement.

“Mr. Naga Panju’s stance is clear—he has only stated that religious activities, including poojas, should not be held during teaching hours to maintain the focus on education.”

Prayers to Goddess Saraswathi is a common practice in Tamil schools in Malaysia.

For context, Thiravidar or Dravidians follow the ideology propagated by EV Ramasamy in Tamil Nadu, India.

The followers reject Hinduism but claims close association to Tamil identity – not only as an ethnicity but also as a faith.