Chennai: Tamilnadu Finance Minister PTR Palanivel Thiagarajan has said he would focus on Covid-19-related work instead of commenting any further on the demand to ‘privatise’ control of Hindu temples and Isha Foundation founder Jaggi Vasudev.
Against the backdrop of his recent media interviews, where he answered questions that were brought up on the topics of “efforts to privatise HR&CE temples and Jaggi Vasudev, he said, “I must state neither of these is relevant to my portfolio, and therefore I have no intention of diluting my focus.”
In a statement, Thiagarajan said the Ministers and departments concerned would deal with the issues as they see fit. “As a colleague and teammate, I will of course offer inputs and support as requested by them,” he added.
Thiagarajan said since most of the substantive things worth saying have already been covered in recent interactions, he has decided to decline all press interactions till the end of the month, to better focus on my Covid-19-related work.
On Monday, an interview with Palanivel Thiagarajan caused a stir. A long-time critic of Jaggi Vasudev, Thiagarajan described the spiritual guru as a ‘commercial operator’ who uses religion and spirituality to make money. In particular, he hit out at the campaign by Vasudev’s Isha Foundation demanding that the Tamilnadu government release Hindu temples in the State from its control.
