Poll fodder: BJP flays INDIA over Udhay’s eradicate Sanatana talk

CHENNAI: Swiftly latching on to DMK youth wing secretary and Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin’s criticism of Sanatana Dharma, the BJP top brass, including Union Home Minister Amit Shah and party president JP Nadda on Sunday lashed out at opposition coalition INDIA, accusing the bloc of insulting the concept for vote bank and appeasement politics.

Reacting to allegations of ‘hate speech’, Udhayanidhi asked whether Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Congress-free Bharat’ comment meant the elimination of all Congress functionaries.

Addressing a public rally in Dungarpur on the launch of the Parivartan Yatra in pollbound Rajasthan, Shah said, DMK leaders, including the Chief Minister’s son, were saying that Sanatana dharma should be abolished.

“These people have talked about Sanatana dharma for vote bank appeasement. They have insulted (Sanatana dharma).” The INDIA bloc would go to any extent for vote bank politics, but “the more they talk against Sanatana dharma, the less they will be visible”,” he said. “They say that if [Prime Minister Narendra] Modi wins, ‘Sanatana rule’ will come.

Sanatana is ruling the hearts of the people. Modi has said the country will run on the basis of the Constitution,” Shah said. Meanwhile in Madhya Pradesh, yet another key State that is going to polls later this year, BJP chief JP Nadda said the DMK, “a big and strong constituent of the opposition alliance”, was attacking the Sanatana Dharma.

“The opposition (INDIA coalition) that met in Mumbai a couple of days ago is attacking India’s culture, tradition and religion. Has this political game plan been hatched in Mumbai? Is their politics revolving around finishing Sanatan Dharma… Throw away such an alliance which is against our Sanatana Dharma and spreads poison.

They want to abolish it (Sanatana Dharma), eradicate them,” Nadda said while flagging off his party’s mass outreach programme at a function in Chitrakoot.

The coordinated criticisms by the BJP, and some non-political organisations from the rightwing, were triggered by Udhayanidhi’s speech on Saturday, during which he alleged that Sanatana Dharma was against equality and social justice, and should thus be eradicated.

Speaking at a meeting of Tamil Nadu Progressive Writers and Artists Association in Chennai on Saturday, the youth wing leader likened it to coronavirus, malaria, fever caused by dengue virus and mosquitoes, which should not merely be opposed but destroyed.

“What is Sanatanam? The very name is from Sanskrit. Sanatana is against equality and social justice and nothing else. What is the meaning of Sanatana? It is eternal. That is, it cannot be changed;

no one could pose any question and that is the meaning,” he said, adding that the concept divided people on the basis of caste

Udhay sticks to ‘every word’, says he spoke for oppressed and marginalised

CHENNAI: Unfazed by the criticism levelled against him by the BJP, DMK youth wing leader and Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin said he stood firmly by every word he said.

“I spoke on behalf of the oppressed and marginalised, who suffer due to the Sanatana Dharma,” he said, offering to present extensive writings of Periyar and Ambedkar, who conducted in-depth research on Sanatana 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 Sanatana 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 in the people’s court,” he said in a social media post after a BJP leader accused him of calling for genocide of those who followed Sanatana Dharma.

During his speech on Saturday, he lauded the organisers for picking the theme of “Sanatana elimination” rather than “opposition to Sanatana”, adding that certain things should not only be opposed but must be done away with.

The late chief minister and DMK patriarch had dealt a severe blow to Sanatana by establishing equality neighbourhoods (Samathuvapuram) and settled people belonging to all communities 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 alleged that while Sanatana enslaved women and did not allow them to step out of their homes, they were today making achievements in sports and a chunk of women were also financially independent.

“What did Sanatana 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 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), he said.

The Vishwakarma Yojana of the BJP-led Centre was a conspiracy and a repeat of Rajaji’s 1953 Kula Kalvi Thittam (Castebased education) 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 Sanatana ideology that we (backward, 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 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 39 Lok Sabha seats in Tamil Nadu and the one segment in Puducherry. Let Sanatana fall, Dravidam win.” He added that the Communist movement and DMK were founded to promote the spirit of questioning everything