Finding God for votes: Tamil Nadu's atheist leaders re-discover religious identity
DMK heir apparent Stalin during his recent tour of the state visited a temple.
by Sandhya Ravishankar
Oct 26, 2015 12:42 IST
The gods must be going crazy! Especially when self-proclaimed atheists, agnostics and theists alike throng to their abodes across the southern state of Tamil Nadu, in an attempt to woo young voters ahead of 2016.
If ministers, MLAs and MPs of the ruling party, the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), thronged temples in prayerful submission, pleading for the release of their leader Jayalalithaa from jail in October and November last year, they are now campaigning for victory outside temples.
While distributing pamphlets outside the Vadapalani Murugan temple in Chennai last week, District Secretary of the AIADMK Youth Brigade, Murali Krishnaprasad explained to Firstpost why such temple campaigns are so important: all the parties are vying for the votes of the younger voters.
The youth of today have a mind of their own. Nobody is able to force any ideology on them. It is a very interesting situation now. There are many youth who believe in God and many who dont. We cannot emphasise any particular concept of living on them now. Ideologies will not work on the youth of today, he said.
http://www.firstpost.com/politics/finding-god-for-votes-tamil-nadus-atheist-leaders-re-discover-religious-identity-2482412.html
Politics poisons everything.