The spiritual wing of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is conducting a fasting protest at Valluvar Kottam in Chennai against the 'anti-Hindu nature' of the ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) government and the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HRCE) Department, which controls most of the Hindu temples in the state.

The protest comes after Krishnan, a temporary employee of the HRCE department, was killed by goons when he asked them not to consume alcohol within the temple premises. The incident occurred in Tirunelveli district and sparked massive outrage.

BJP state president K Annamalai had come down heavily on HRCE minister P Sekar Babu and asked him to focus on the security of temple property and its staff. He added that the condition of temples in the state was poor because the department was more interested in the temple money and the minister wanted to please the DMK first family.

Annamalai also urged the government to give jobs to Krishnan's sons.

Sekar Babu had recently drawn flak for participating and saying 'Hallelujah' three times at a Christmas event. In the same event, Udhayanidhi Stalin had praised Sekar Babu and said that the HRCE minister saying 'Hallelujah' is the Dravidian model.

The overwhelming dissatisfaction with the functioning of the department was shown by a Twitter poll conducted by Chanakyaa TV, in which 81.9 per cent of respondents said that the department is 'bad for temples.'

The inability of the department to protect temples has been shown time and again with the most recent case being that of the historical Sundara Raja Perumal and Kaliamman temples in Chennai's Virugambakkam which would have been demolished for the Chennai metro, if not for the timely intervention of temple activists.

The two temples were shown as being located on 'encroached' land in government records and this was being used by the Greater Chennai Corporation to argue for their demolition.

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