MK Stalin, son of DMK patriarch and heir apparent to the 65-year-old party, earned the wrath of party veterans for greeting the people of Tamil Nadu on the occasion of Vinayaka Chathurthi, an important festival for the Hindus.

“Greetings to all on the occasion of Vinayaka Chathurthi,” said a message posted on the social network sites of Stalin. The message carrying a picture of lord Vinayaka surprised not only the party cadre but even the believers because the DMK leaders never greet Hindus on their festivals.

Though the atheist DMK leaders have total contempt for Hindus, they never fail to greet and celebrate Muslim and Christian festivals. Karunanidhi, who is facing a court case for describing Hindus as thieves, hosts Iftar meetings every year where he and Stalin receive and entertain their Muslim brethren. But Vinayaka, who has the head of an elephant and body of a human being, is anathema to the DMK and its parent body Dravida Kazhakam (now led by a political non-entity K Veeramani).

Hence, it was not surprising that hardcore DMK leaders came out in the open questioning the ‘morality’ of Stalin wishing the Hindus. On Sunday, the DMK even issued a statement by party spokesman TKS Elangovan washing its hands off the greetings message.

“It was done by the IT professionals managing the social networking sites of Stalin. He does not have anything to do with the greetings message,” said Elangovan.

Though a born Hindu, Karunanidhi is known for his hatred for anything Hindu. He was named Dakshinamurthy (another name of lord Shiva) by his parents. But the atheist in him got the name changed to Karunanidhi, which is a Sanskrit name. Stalin was named after Josef Stalin, the dictator of the former Soviet Union. Stalin’s wife Durga too changed her name to Santha recently in sync with the policy of the DMK as Durga is the name of a Hindu goddess. But all members of the Karunanidhi clan visit all temples in Tamil Nadu though secretly.

EV Ramaswamy Naicker, founder of the Dravida Kazhakam and his disciple CN Annadurai too never lost a chance to ridicule lord Vinayaka and the people who pray before the lord. But MG Ramachandran, who too started his political career with the DMK was an ardent believer and always visited the Goddess Mookambika Temple at Kollur in Karnataka. Chief Minister Jayalalithaa, who leads the AIADMK, an offshoot of the DK, never hides her beliefs and makes it a point to visit to temples without failure.