‘Sanatan Dharma’ row: BJP calls oppn’s INDIA ‘anti-Hindu’; will repeat same thing again, says Udhayanidhi Stalin | India News

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.
“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.
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.
Prahlad Patel, another Union minister, also 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.
Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan also 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”.
Union minister Shobha Karandlaje demanded that Tamil Nadu CM M K Stalin should immediately sack Udhayanidhi for his remarks.
Congress, TMC distance themselves from remarks
Several Congress leaders also reacted to the controversial remarks made by Stalin’s son. While some outrightly rejected the statement, others presented a softer stand.
AICC general secretary K C Venugopal said while the Congress’s stand is clear, every other political party has the freedom to express its own view.
“Actually, our view is very clear – ‘Sarvadharma Sambhav’ (equal respect to all religions) is the Congress ideology. But, you have to understand that every political party has its own freedom to tell their views,” he said.
“We are respecting everybody’s beliefs,” the Congress leader said.
Congress leader Karan Singh, however, strongly objected to the comments and said they were “most unfortunate and totally unacceptable”.
Terming the comments preposterous, Karan Singh said that crores of people in India “follow a lesser or greater extent the tenets of Sanatan Dharma”.
“It is shocking that a responsible politician should make this kind of a totally unacceptable statement. I have the highest regard for the magnificent Tamil culture but I take strong objection to the statement made by Thiru Udhayanidhi,” he added.
TMC dubbed the comments “unfortunate” and said that every religion must be respected.
“Every religion has separate sentiments. India is about ‘unity in diversity’ which is our origin. We should not be involved in any matter which might hurt a section of people,” West Bengal chief minister and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee said.
TMC leader Kunal Ghosh said that the comments are not related with the INDIA alliance.
Udhayanidhi remains defiant
Unfazed by attacks from various quarters, Udhayanidhi on Monday said that he would “repeat the same thing again and again” as he has included all religions and not just Hindus.
“The day before yesterday I spoke at a function about it (Sanatan Dharma). Whatever I said, I’ll repeat the same thing again and again … I included all the religions and not just Hindus … I spoke condemning the caste differences that’s all,” Udhayanidhi Stalin said.
Reiterating his statement at the ‘Sanatana Abolition Conference’, Udhayanidhi wrote, “I stand firmly by every word I have spoken. I spoke on behalf of the oppressed and marginalized, who suffer due to the Sanatan Dharma.”
He clarifief that he had not called for “genocide” but added that “uprooting Sanatan Dharma” would uphold humanity and human equality.
(With inputs from agencies)