Atheist MK visits Golden Temple

Vellore, Feb 17 (UNI) A known atheist, DMK patriarch and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi visited the Golden temple at Sripuram near here, constructed by Sri Sakthi Amma of the Sri Narayani Peedam last evening.

Accompanied by Sakthi Amma, Mr Karunanidhi visited the temple in a battery-operated vehicle after sharing the dais with the pontiff at a function of the Peedam to distribute financial assistance to 320 poor children for their heart surgery.

The Chief Minister went around the outer landscape of the huge temple complex.

According to sources, Mr Karunanidhi, who did not visit the sanctum sanctorum, had a glimpse of it, before leaving the premises.

None, including the media was allowed inside the premises when Mr Karunanidhi was taken around the temple.

Earlier, the Chief Minister, justifying his visit, noted that he and the Peedam head shared a common goal of helping the poor.

''If we do things according to our conscience, that is godly.

What matters is not whether a person is a theist or an atheist, but only whether he does good things or not,'' he said, and added that rationalism and spiritualism were like twins.

Known for his atheist ideology, Mr Karunanidhi visiting the temple and sharing the dais with Sakthi Amma, was no surprise as he had shared the dais with Satya Sai Baba and Mata Amritanandamayi in the past for public cause. But his participation at this temple function came close on the heels of his recent outburst against Lord Ram on the Ram Sethu controversy.

UNI GV GKT SP BST1732