25 percent temples lost or encroached: H Raja

The six spears from the six abodes of Lord Murugan had reached Madurai in a yatra called ‘Vel Sangamam’ (Unity of Spears), on Thursday. After prayers, the spears left for the Palani Murugan temple from the Meenakshi Amman temple, on Friday morning. 

In a public meeting on Thursday evening, Raja slammed Dravidian parties for destroying the Tamil language and Hindu temples during their rule. 

Raja said the Dravidian parties acted as packers and movers by packing up Hinduism and bringing in Christian missionaries. 

In Tamil Nadu, there were 38,635 temples when the HR&CE Department took over the temples, but now at least 25 per cent of the temples have disappeared. Of the 25 per cent, there was no trace 20 per cent of the shrines and in the remaining five per cent commercial establishments were functioning, he said.