Chennai: Alleging that Sanatana Dharma is against equality and social justice, DMK youth wing secretary and Tamil Nadu Youth Welfare Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin has said it should be eradicated.
Likening Sanatana Dharma to coronavirus, malaria, and fever caused by dengue virus and mosquitoes, he said such things should not be opposed but destroyed.
After his remarks led to a furore in social media with BJP’s IT department in-charge Amit Malviya stating the DMK leader has called for “genocide” of 80 per cent population who follow Sanatana Dharma, Udhayanidhi rubbished that accusation.
In his address at a meet of Tamil Nadu Progressive Writers and Artists Association here on Saturday, Udhayanidhi said Sanatan is against equality and social justice.
Udhayanidhi, son of Chief Minister M K Stalin, said the very name Sanatan is 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.
Terming Udhayanidhi Stalin’s comments as hate speech, Malviya asked: “Rahul Gandhi speaks of ‘Mohabbat ki dukan’ but Congress ally DMK’s scion talks about eradicating Sanatana Dharma. Congress’s silence is support for this genocidal call…I.N.D.I Alliance, true to its name, if given an opportunity, will annihilate the millennia old civilisation that is Bharat.”
Tamil Nadu BJP President K Annamalai too slammed the DMK minister for his malicious ideology. “Tamil Nadu is a land of spiritualism. The best you can do is to hold a mic in an event like this & rant out your frustration!”
BJP Tamil Nadu vice president Narayanan Thirupathy dubbed the DMK a “cancer” and said such remarks from the ruling Dravidian party were nothing new. His party would decimate the DMK, he said.
Reacting to the criticism, Udhayanidhi said on X: “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, he said. “Uprooting Sanatan Dharma is upholding humanity and human equality.”
The DMK leader said he stood firmly by every word he had spoken on behalf of the oppressed and marginalised people who suffer due to Sanatan Dharma.
“I am ready to present the extensive writings of Periyar and Ambedkar, who conducted in-depth research on Sanatan Dharma and its negative impact on society in any forum.”
“Let me reiterate the crucial aspect of my speech: I believe, like the spread of diseases like COVID-19, dengue, and malaria by mosquitoes, that Sanatan Dharma is responsible for many social evils. I am prepared to confront any challenges that come my way, whether in a court of law or the people’s court. Stop spreading fake news.”
Reactions in social media include one from a legal rights activist forum that said it would explore legal remedies against his remarks.
DMK spokesperson Saravanan Annadurai referring to the BJP’s ‘Congress Mukt Bharat’ slogan demanded to know if that meant genocide.
Udhayanidhi, in his address at the writers meet, said late chief minister and DMK patriarch M Karunanidhi dealt a severe blow to Sanatan by establishing equality neighbourhoods (Samathuvapuram) and getting people belonging to all communities settled in a single place.
“Our Kalaignar (Karunanidhi) brought a law enabling people belonging to all castes to become archakas (temple priests), our Chief Minister (Stalin) has appointed people who have completed archaka training as priests in temples; this is the Dravidian model.”
Udhayanidhi, who also holds the sports development portfolio, alleged that while Sanatan enslaved women and did not allow them to step out of their homes, they are today making achievements in sports and many women are also financially independent.
“What did Sanatan do to women? It pushed women, who lost their husbands, into fire (the erstwhile practice of Sati), it tonsured the heads of widows and made them wear white saris. Child marriages too happened.”
“What did the Dravidam (the Dravidian ideology followed by DMK regime) do? It gave fare-free travel for women in buses, gave Rs 1,000 monthly assistance to girl students for their college education.” From September 15, women beneficiaries would be getting Rs 1,000 monthly assistance (basic income scheme).
The Vishwakarma Yojana of the BJP-led Centre is a conspiracy and a repeat of Rajaji’s 1953 ‘Kula Kalvi Thittam’ (caste or community-based education scheme) and the DMK would staunchly oppose it.
“We are bringing schemes to educate our children. However, fascists are formulating projects to prevent our children from getting educated. It is because of the Sanatan ideology, that we (backward and oppressed classes) should not be educated and a classic example is the NEET…”
Dravidar Kazhagam, the parent outfit of the DMK, has already opposed the central scheme, saying it is aimed at perpetuating caste-based occupations in sync with the regressive ‘Varnasrama Dharma’.
“Let us take a vow to win in all the 39 Parliamentary constituencies in Tamil Nadu and the one segment in Puducherry (in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls). Let Sanatan fall, Dravidam win,” Udhayanidhi said.
The minister said everything should be changed and nothing is perpetual. The Communist movement and DMK were founded to question everything, he pointed out.
