Chennai: Tamil Nadu sports minister and Chief Minister M.K. Stalin’s son, Udhayanidhi Stalin, triggered a political row with his remarks on Sanatana (Dharma) Saturday, which the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was quick to dub as “an attack on our heritage”. Hitting back Sunday, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said the remark by the Dravida Munnetra Kazagham (DMK) scion shows that the opposition INDIA bloc “hates Hinduism”.
According to Encyclopaedia Britannica, the term Sanatana Dharma denotes the ‘eternal’ or absolute set of duties or religiously ordained practices incumbent upon all Hindus, regardless of class, caste, or sect.
During a writers’ conference in Chennai, the first-time minister had said that Sanatana was “against social justice and equality”, and was like “corona, malaria, dengue and it must be eradicated and not opposed”.
Taking to social media platform X, Tamil Nadu BJP chief K. Annamalai accused Udhayanidhi of “calling for genocide of 80% population of Bharat, who follow Sanatan Dharma. DMK is a prominent member of the opposition block and a long standing ally of the Congress. Is this what was agreed in the Mumbai meet?”
Meanwhile, Udhayanidhi found support in Congress MP Karti Chidambaram who posted on X Saturday, “Sanathana Dharma is nothing but code for a Caste Hierarchical Society. All those batting for it are hankering for the Good Ole Days! Caste is the Curse of India.”
Clarifying on X, Udhayanidhi said late Saturday, “I never called for the genocide of people who are following Sanatan Dharma. Sanatan Dharma is a principle that divides people in the name of caste and religion. Uprooting Sanatan Dharma is upholding humanity and human equality. I stand firmly by every word I have spoken. I spoke on behalf of the oppressed & marginalised, who suffer due to the Sanatan Dharma.”
Adding that he was prepared to confront any challenges, be it in a court of law or the people’s court, he said, “Stop spreading fake news.”
Speaking to ThePrint, DMK spokesperson A. Saravanan said, “If the Prime Minister says Congress-Mukt Bharat (Bharat without Congress) does he call for genocide? How can they say that Udhayanidhi Stalin has called for a genocide? That is fake news, that is hate speech. They have to be answerable to the law for bringing up fake news and driving hatred. When we say we want to do away with Sanatana Dharma, it only means that we want to do away with the rigid caste system that is there in it.”
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‘Insulting country’s heritage’
Union Home Minister Amit Shah, speaking at the BJP’s Parivartan Yatra at Dungarpur in poll-bound Rajasthan, said, “Over the past two days, they (INDIA) have been insulting this country’s heritage and Sanatana Dharma. Sons of top leaders of Congress and DMK are talking about finishing Sanatana Dharma for the politics of vote bank and appeasement.”
Recalling Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s 2010 speech where he had called radical Hindu outfits as a bigger threat than terror organisation Lashkar-e-Taiba, Shah said, “Rahul Baba had said that Hindu organisations are more dangerous than Lashkar-e-Taiba. Rahul Baba, you compared Hindu organisations to Lashkar-e-Taiba and your Home Minister said there is ‘Hindu terror’ in the country.”
Shah added, “They say Sanatana rule will come if Modi wins. Sanatana is ruling people’s hearts.”
Also joining the chorus was Union minister and senior BJP leader Rajeev Chandrasekhar who posted on X, “These dynasties who have made themselves rich beyond imagination and always kept people poor and vulnerable…As a cover for their corruption and parasitic behavior, they create narratives like ‘Protecting Dravidian Land’ & abuse Hindu faith. The only thing they protect is their own wealth & politics…they haven’t done even 1% of what the PM has done for Tamil Nadu in only 9 years.”
(Edited by Smriti Sinha)
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