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"The moment one speaks of civic nationalism, one has to concede that there exists its counterpart, religious nationalism. To use Taoist imagery, they are Yin-Yang," observed Madras High Court on Friday. 

The court was dealing with the catholic priest George Ponniah petition urging for quashing of criminal proceedings against him in the derogatory speech case. Ponniah had given a provocative speech at an event organized for paying homage to Late Stan Swamy, a UAPA accused - allegedly outraging sentiments of Hindus painting Bharat Mata & Bhuma Devi as filthy & causes of infection.

Laying emphasis upon how the issue of secularism and protection of religious sentiments of citizens are intertwined, the bench of Justice GR Swaminathan noted, "While a civic nationalist believes in India as a secular conception with the Constitution as its guiding light, to a religious nationalist, India is Bharat Mata."

"Even to the latter, the Constitution has to be the foundational and guiding document. The difference between “Jai Hind” and “Bharat Mata Ki Jai” will be the difference between the two categories," the bench added. 

Court also took a jibe at Mr. Shashi Tharoor's alleged attempts to differentiate the two ideologies. Court said, 

"The irrepressible Shashi Tharoor would probably comment that the religious nationalism represents the black “Yin” while civic nationalism represents the white “Yang”. He may come out with an unheard of English expression too!. No one in his senses would suggest that only a religious-nationalist can be called a patriot."

Noting thus, court decided to not quash the criminal proceedings against Ponniah under section 153A (promoting enmity), 295A (outraging religious feeling) and 505(2) of Indian Penal Code as court found his speech deliberate and malicious wherein he had targetted only Hindus by putting them on one side and the Christians and Muslims on the other.

Matter in brief

A meeting was organized at Arumanai, a village in western Kanyakumari District, on 18th July, 2021 protesting the continued closure of churches in the District owing to pandemic-induced lockdown. The entire speech was video recorded and widely circulated in the social media.

In the said video, while mocking M.R.Gandhi who was elected as MLA on a BJP ticket, Ponniah could be seen and heard stating, "But we wear shoes. Why? Because the filth of Bharat Mata should not contaminate us. The Tamil Nadu government has given us free footwear. This bhumadevi is dangerous, you could catch scabies from it.”

To be noted, Gandhi is known to walk barefoot out of respect for Mother Earth. 

Ponniah had even laid verbal attacks on the Prime Minister and Home Minister of the country. He had said, "The last days of Modi are going to be pathetic. I give it in writing. If the God we worship is a true living God, the history should see Modi and Amit Shah being eaten by dogs and worms.”

The speech went viral and provoked considerable public outcry. In the aftermath, a case was registered against Ponniah for the offences under Sections 143, 153A, 295A, 505(2), 506(1) and 269 of IPC and Section 3 of the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897. To quash the FIR, the present petition had been filed.

Case Title: Fr.P.George Ponnaiah v. The Inspector of Police,Arumanai Police Station, Kanyakumari District, Kanyakumari and Ors.