New Delhi: The BJP on Monday intensified its attack on the opposition over DMK leader Udhayanidhi Stalin’s remarks on Sanatan Dharma, asking the Congress if the INDIA bloc had met in Mumbai to target the religion and stressed that they should not play with Hindu sentiments.
What he has said is shocking and shameful, former Union minister and BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad said, noting that the son of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin has repeated his remarks.
He has been ably assisted by Congress MP Karti Chidambaram, whose father and former finance minister P Chidambaram is facing trial in a corruption case, he said.
“Why are opposition leaders like Rahul Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge, Nitish Kumar, Mamata Banerjee silent? Are you playing with Hindu sentiments for votes? They should know that hundreds of years of Islamic rule could not exterminate Sanatan Dharma and British imperialism could not dilute it,” Prasad told reporters.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is a declared Sanatani, he added.
Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal hit out at the opposition parties and asked the Congress if the INDIA bloc had met in Mumbai to finalise its agenda against Sanatan Dharma and how to finish it off across the country.
“Is this your ‘mohabbat ki dukan’ (shop to spread love),” he asked and accused Congress leader K C Venugopal of spewing venom against the religion.
Another Union Minister Prahlad Patel alleged that the attack on Sanatan Dharma was part of a conspiracy hatched during the opposition parties’ meeting in Mumbai on August 31 and September 1.
The silence of those who get themselves photographed in temples, be it Rahul Gandhi or Arvind Kejriwal, is telling, he said.
In his address at a meeting of Tamil Nadu Progressive Writers and Artists Association in Chennai on Saturday, state Youth Welfare Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin alleged that ‘Sanatan Dharma’ is against equality and social justice, and that it should be eradicated.
Likening Sanatan Dharma to coronavirus, malaria and dengue, Udhayanidhi said such things should not be opposed but destroyed.
Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan targeted the INDIA bloc and said the leaders of the “‘ghamandia gathbandhan’ (arrogant alliance)” seem to be competing with each other to “abuse Indian civilisation, its core belief and the Hindu dharma”.
He said that the INDIA alliance could not decide its convenor or its leader in their recent meeting, but “formulated a policy to show Sanatan in a bad light and abuse Hindutva”.
Pradhan questioned the silence of NCP supremo Sharad Pawar, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and leaders of the opposition INDIA bloc over Udhayanidhi’s remarks, accusing them of practising appeasement politics for votes.
He demanded that the INDIA bloc, especially Congress, clarify if abusing Hindus and hurting “India’s majority community” is their definition of freedom of expression.
“K C Venugopal, a prominent Congress leader, crossed all limits… He said the Congress believes in ‘sarva dharma sam bhav’ and that the party respects freedom of expression.
“Is abusing Hindus a freedom of expression for you?” Pradhan asked, adding, “This is not going to work. We condemn it in the strongest words.”
He alleged that “dynastic leaders of the ‘ghamandia alliance'” are targeting Sanatan Dharma to create division in society as people across all castes, sects and communities are rallying behind the Narendra Modi government.
All sects, sects, communities, ways of worship and views born in India are part of Sanatan Dharma, Pradhan said.
