The DMK never professed atheism nor interfered in devotees’ faith and anybody was free to worship the gods of their choice, Tamil Nadu Minister P K Sekar Babu said, slamming the BJP for raising a new strategy to target the ruling party.

The DMK always gave full freedom to people of all faiths to worship and never interfered, he said, strongly reacting to BJP state chief K Annamalai’s recent accusation that the DMK was forced to reverse its previous stance on atheism owing to the BJP’s activities in Tamil Nadu.

"Whether it is Muslims, Christians, Buddhists or Hindus, the DMK gave full freedom to them to worship the gods of their choice…. we never interfered in the devotees’ belief," Babu, who holds the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments portfolio, told reporters here on Thursday.

"The DMK is not a divisive force. You can chant any god’s name like Jai Shree Ram, Harohara Muruga, Venkatachalapathy, Govinda, Govinda, anything is acceptable," the minister said.

Asked about Annamalai’s comments that the DMK has understood that its principle of atheism will not succeed in the state, Babu shot back "when did we say there’s no god?" Even Chief Minister M K Stalin’s Minister son Udhayanidhi accepted the temple honours and took the blessings of the priests of Sri Parthasarathy Swamy temple before inaugurating a commercial complex built at a cost of Rs 3.20 crore belonging to the temple, he said.

Dismissing Annamalai’s remarks as "nothing but blabbering," the minister claimed that the BJP leader was trying a new strategy targeting the ruling party as all his weapons used in the past were rendered useless by the DMK.

"He is coming up with something new, but this will not work because the DMK iron man president (M K Stalin) is a capable leader who can defeat such attempts. Our goal is to serve the people without bothering about such criticism," Babu said.

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