The Hindu religious fundamentalist groups and caste based groups have burned copies of Madhorubagan, a Tamil Novel by Prof Perumal Murugan and threatened the right to free speech of the author.

Tamil Nadu police silently withdrew protection for the writer and the writer is forced to abandon writing.

The novel weaves the story based on oral history of “traditional free, consensual sex rituals” held once in a year during the car festival of the Ardhanareeswara, the presiding deity of Tiruchengodu temple in the past.

BJP, RSS and other Hindu fundamentalist and casteist organisations have demanded banning the novel, Madhorubagan, citing that it has portrayed the Kailasanathar temple in Tiruchengode and women devotees in bad light.

The Hindu fundamentalists have once again taken the baton “Cultural Policing” based on their brahminical, casteist, and hierarchical notions. We urge the progressive forces to unite and strongly condemn the violence perpetuated by religious fundamentalist and other casteist forces, and stand for the right to free speech of Prof. Perumal Murugan.