CHENNAI: Madras High Court Judge Justice N Anand Venkatesh said on Saturday that “the right to worship is not a concession granted by religion; it is a fundamental right of every citizen.”

Preventing a person from entering a temple or worshipping there on the basis of caste, religion or birth goes beyond violating the individual’s rights and dignity, he said after launching the book titled “The People’s Sanctum – The 100 Year Struggle to Democratise Temples in India”, authored by Manuraj Shunmugasundaram.

Justice Anand Venkatesh said the book had made an impact on him by documenting the history of temple-entry movements and the State’s secular control over places of worship.

He said the book traced developments from the Madras Hindu Religious Endowments Act, 1925, to the present, documenting developments. “The social justice that anyone can become an archagar in any temple has been ensured today because of the Vaikom Satyagraha,” he said, referring to the struggle against caste-based exclusion.

The MHC judge said accounts of caste-based distinctions and the recording of lower-caste witnesses’ versions in courts were shocking. He urged present and future generations to read the book.

DMK deputy general secretary and MP Kanimozhi Karunanidhi, who took part in the release event, said the Dravidian movement had helped ensure non-Brahmins’ access to temples.

“The Dravidian movement ensured sanctum entry for non-Brahmins too. Temples have now become places for everyone. Temple-entry protests and the Vaikom Satyagraha were the main reasons for this,” she said.

She described the book as a document for future generations and urged the authors to release an audio version.

DMK leaders RS Bharathi, PK Sekar Babu, Kalanidhi Veeraswamy, Mayor R Priya and advocates also attended the event at Victoria Public Hall here.