By The Hindu Bureau

Copyright thehindu

Tamil Nadu Governor R.N. Ravi on Saturday (October 4, 2025) said politics in the State hijacked the socio-spiritual movement started by Tamil saint Vallalar.

“Swami Vallalar started a socio-spiritual movement, to reform society, restore the balance, and create harmony,” he said at the inaugural session of the one-day ‘Samarasa Suththa Sanmarga Youth Conference’ at Bharathiar Mandapam, Raj Bhavan, Chennai.

“After Independence, it [the socio-spiritual movement] was hijacked by politics. Politics: it never unites. Politics, by nature, is centered around power,” Mr. Ravi said, addressing a gathering of Vallalar devotees and young students.

“What Vallalar wanted was a win-win for all. But that cannot be achieved through politics. Unfortunately, politics in our State has hijacked the socio-spiritual movement started by Vallalar,” he said.

“Vallalar said that every being is divine; even a blade of grass is divine. But in politics, there is very little room for divinity. In fact, here, we have politics that does not accept divinity at all. It calls it irrational and unscientific,” Mr. Ravi said.

“In the neighbouring State of Kerala, things are not better. There are discriminations and all kinds of problems. But when Sree Narayana Guru started a socio-spiritual movement, politics did not hijack it. Today, in Kerala, we do not hear of any incident of social discrimination or untouchability,” he said.

“But in our State, in newspapers every day, we read about atrocities being committed. Because the socio-spiritual movement was hijacked by politics,” Mr. Ravi said. “In politics, no one is sincerely interested in removing social discrimination. They may talk about it, but they will not [remove it]. Because their interest lies in letting it remain this way. We need a socio-spiritual movement here,” he said.

Mr. Ravi said as the Chancellor of universities, he had not come across a lot of research on Vallalar’s work. “If they are not done in government institutions, let us at least start them in private autonomous institutions,” he suggested.

Vallalar’s teachings have the answers to problems like poverty, conflict, and environmental crises, which we face today, he said, adding: “We need committed people from all walks of life to spread the teachings of Vallalar.”