New Delhi, Chennai: Remarks by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin's son, state Cabinet minister Udhayanidhi, Stalin to "eradicate Sanatan Dharma" turned into a full-blown controversy with the I.N.D.I.A. bloc, of which Stalin's DMK is a constituent, coming under fire from the BJP for hating Hindus.
The saffron party likened the DMK leader's remarks to a call for "genocide" of Sanatan Dharma believers for votebank politics. The BJP slammed the DMK for parroting "malicious ideology" and asked the Congress to clarify its stand on its ally's remarks against the Sanatan Dharma.
Likening Sanatan Dharma to Coronavirus, malaria and dengue fever, Udhayanidhi said such things should not be opposed but destroyed.
Union home minister Amit Shah, who was in Rajasthan, slammed the DMK and its ally the Congress for insulting the country's heritage and Sanatan Dharma. He said the sons of top leaders of the Congress and the DMK are talking about finishing Sanatan Dharma for the politics of votebank and appeasement.
Referring to former Congress president Rahul Gandhi's 2010 remarks, wherein he had said that radical Hindu outfits were a bigger threat than terror organisation Lashkar-e-Tayyaba, Mr Shah said, "Rahul baba had said that Hindu organisations are more dangerous than Lashkar-e-Tayyba. Rahul baba, you compared Hindu organisations to Lashkar-e-Tayyba and your home minister (Sushil Kumar Shinde) said there is 'Hindu terror' in the country."
The Union home minister said the Opposition alliance could go to any extent for votebank politics, but "the more they talk against Sanatan Dharma, the less they will be visible".
BJP president J P Nadda appealed to people to reject the opposition grouping, which he said was spreading “hatred, poison and attacking the country's culture and tradition.” The saffron party urged the Supreme Court to take appropriate action against Udhayanidhi.
An unfazed Udhayanidhi said his was the voice of the oppressed people and he was prepared to confront challenges, be it in a court of law or the people's court.
Accusing the DMK leadership of making itself "rich beyond imagination", another Union minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar said that as a cover for their corruption and parasitic behaviour, they create narratives like "protecting Dravidian land" and abuse the Hindu faith.
"It must become a national mission, a mission for all Indians, to rid our country and our politics of these shameless exploitative dynasty families of the UPA/INDIA. These dynasties have made themselves rich beyond imagination and have always kept people poor and vulnerable. These dynasties are truly the parasites who, for decades, preyed on people's vulnerabilities and sucked out our nations and people's wealth... As a cover for their corruption and parasitic behaviour, they create narratives like "protecting Dravidian land" and abuse the Hindu faith. The only thing they protect is their own wealth and politics. In all their years, they haven't done even 1 per cent of what Prime Minister Narendra Modi ji has done for Tamil Nadu in only nine years," Mr Chandrasekhar wrote on a social media platform.
Slamming Gandhi for the remarks made by his party's ally, BJP IT cell head Amit Malviya said, "Mr Gandhi speaks of 'mohabbat ki dukaan' but the Congress ally DMK's scion talks about eradicating Sanatan Dharma. The Congress' silence is support for this genocidal call. The INDIA alliance, true to its name, if given an opportunity, will annihilate the millennia-old civilisation that is Bharat."
Tamil Nadu BJP chief K. Annamalai said, "The only resolve that the 'Gopalapuram Family' has is to accumulate wealth beyond the state GDP. Thiru Udhayanidhi Stalin, you, your father or his or your ideologue have a bought-out idea from Christian missionaries and the idea of those missionaries was to cultivate dimwits like you to parrot their malicious ideology."
Reminding the DMK leader that Dravidian culture is also "one of the spiritual streams born in India with a unique and beautiful image," VHP working president Alok Kumar said, "I am surprised by both the language and the spirit of the statement of Udhayanidhi Stalin. The kind of threats he is issuing, he did not even consider his own strength. The consequences of such threats can also be serious".
The VHP leader said Sanatan Dharma also faced challenges from Muslims, missionaries and the British, "yet it won", adding, "Remember that the one who talks about destroying Sanatan Dharma himself gets destroyed."
In his address at a meet of Tamil Nadu Progressive Writers and Artists Association in Chennai on Saturday, Udhayanidhi had said that Sanatan is against equality and social justice.
He said the very name Sanatan was from Sanskrit. “What is the meaning of Sanatan? It is eternal, that is, it cannot be changed; no one could pose any question and that is the meaning.” Sanatan divided people on the basis of caste, he alleged.
