Udhayanidhi Stalin, the Tamil Nadu government’s portfolio holder for Sports and Youth Affairs, drew fire for his views on Sanatan Dharma.
MK Stalin’s son and state minister in Tamil Nadu, Udhayanidhi Stalin, sparked a political uproar on Saturday by associating ‘Sanatana’ (Sanatan Dharma) with “mosquitoes, Dengue, Malaria, fever, and Corona,” adding that it should be exterminated like these maladies.
According to the Isha Foundation, Sanatan Dharma is an “eternal” religion that will always be relevant and provides Hindus the opportunity to worship any deity of their choice. According to ISKON, Sanatan Dharma is a set of religious responsibilities that all Hindus must fulfill. It claims to be transcendental in nature and to transcend transient belief systems.
Udhayanidhi, who is in charge of Sports and Youth Affairs, made the comments during a conference, drawing harsh criticism from the Bharatiya Janata Party. The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam party has defended its leader, saying his opinion was “twisted”; numerous leaders of the INDIA or Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance, the Opposition group with whom the DMK is also affiliated, have stated politicians should avoid making such statements.
Leaders of the NDA and INDIA react:
“He is commenting on ‘Sanatana Dharma’, Hinduism, without fear of repercussions,” said Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar. Because he feels that his money, status, and dynastic position allow him to disrespect thousands of Indians and Tamil Nadu residents. Udhayanidhi Stalin is a textbook example of a spoilt brat, a person who has never done a day’s honest work in his life while talking about something so essential and religious.”
“…This is nothing less than a genocidal call, and it has been backed by Karti Chidambaram of the Congress party,” said BJP Spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla. “Is this ‘Mohabbat ki dukaan’ or ‘Nafrat ke bhaijaan’?”…This is the ‘Sanatana Virodh’ lengthy pattern…”
Tamil Nadu BJP President K. Annamalai: “…If ‘Sanatana Dharma’ is to be eradicated, all temples and people’s vital religious practises must be destroyed…The term ‘Sanatana Dharma’ existed far before the Christian or Islamic religions. The term ‘Sanatana Dharma’ refers to eternal, timeless dharma. It’s been there for quite some time…What Udhayanidhi said yesterday should be rejected by the country’s 142 crore people since enmity for a certain faith was shown yesterday. He was reading the speech from a manuscript that he had carefully prepared. The annihilation of a certain civilization is referred to as genocide… Who is Udhayanidhi Stalin, and who is he to destroy ‘Sanatana Dharma’?”
“There is a competition among leaders to abuse Hindus,” says Congress leader Acharya Pramod. For 1000 years, efforts have been made to eradicate ‘Sanatan dharma’. Nobody could ever undo it…”
“This country is known to respect all religions,” says Congress leader Rashid Alvi. Our Constitution is secular because people of different religions live in our nation so that the country may remain together, but the BJP has politicized religion in the previous 9 years, and this is why anyone gets up and says anything about religion. The guy who claimed this is incorrect, but the leaders of the BJP are to blame for politicizing religion.”
“The people who dissolve venom in the social harmony of the country will get nothing out of it,” says UP Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya. Religious expressions by political leaders should be avoided…This is an ineffective attempt to instill malevolence in the community. “I strongly condemn this.”
Manoj Jha, Rajya Sabha MP and RJD leader, stated, “Main samajhta hoon ki kabhi-kabhi hum logo ko prateek muhavaro ke andar jaakar ke sochna hoga…(I understand that occasionally we need to delve into symbolic expressions).”
Sanjay Singh, AAP leader: “…In India, there are various religions, castes, and languages.” Our beauty is that we live together despite this…Regarding Udhayanidhi’s comments, I simply want to stress that in India, we should respect all religions and no one should criticise on another’s faith.”
