Hindus across the country were shocked and upset over the call made by Udhayanidhi Stalin, Tamil Nadu’s Minister for Sports and Youth Affairs to get rid of ‘Sanatan Dharma’ from India. What made the statement by Udhayanidhi shocking is the fact that he is the son of MK Stalin, Chief Minister of the State and the president of the DMK. “We usually finish off mosquitoes and germs causing dengue fever, cholera etc. We should eradicate and abolish ‘Sanatan Dharma’ not defeat it,” he said while addressing a conference titled ‘How to eradicate Sanatan Dharma’ organised by Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi at Chennai on Saturday.
His father Stalin is on record stating many times in the past that ‘Sanatan Dharma’ was more dangerous to India than China and Pakistan.
The BJP top brass and Hindu leaders pounced on the statement by junior Stalin.
While Home Minister Shah accused the DMK and the INDIA grouping of insulting ‘Sanatan Dharma’ for votebank and appeasement politics, BJP president JP Nadda on Sunday appealed to people to reject the Opposition bloc INDIA, which he alleged was spreading “hatred” and “poison” and attacking India’s culture and tradition. Two complaints were filed in the national Capital with the Delhi Police against Udhayanidhi over the issue. BJP leaders in Tamil Nadu, too, warned that they would take legal action.
“What he has done is call for genocide of the Hindus in the country. This is a signal to the Hindu-baiters to launch genocide against Hindus,” said Narayanan Thirupathy, the BJP’s State vice-president.
He said that the DMK was more dangerous than dengue, cholera and cancer. “DMK is a cancer that has afflicted Tamil Nadu society and the Hindus would see to it that this terminal illness is eradicated from society,” said Thirupathy.
Arjun Sampath, founder and president, Hindu Makkal Katchi, called for the dismissal of Udhayanidhi and Minister for Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowment Board from the Council of Ministers.
“This was a Tamil Nadu Government-sponsored meeting. The Hindus in the State feel threatened and frightened because of this statement. The Centre should intervene and dismiss both the Ministers for participating in a meeting like this,” said Sampath in a statement on Sunday.
The DMK deployed its spin-doctors by Sunday as the situation took a serious turn with senior BJP leaders Amit Shah and JP Nadda taking up the issue and slamming the DMK and INDIA grouping.
Coming out in defence of Udhayanidhi, DMK spokesman Sharavanan told reporters, “The BJP is blowing the statement out of proportion. At no point of time did Udhayanidhi called for genocide. He equated the Sanatais to dengue and cholera and wanted it to be eradicated like the way we get rid of this disease. How can it be a call for genocide?” Though it is well-known that both Stalin and his son do not see eye to eye with the Hindus, but Durga, Stalin’s wife is a devout Hindu. Last month she had offered a crown costing millions of rupees to Lord Krishna, the presiding deity of Guruvayur, as per astrological advice as an atonement for the frequent statements made by her husband against Hindu gods.
Udhayanidhi himself is no stranger to controversy as he had said in the run-up to the 2021 Assembly elections that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was behind the deaths of former Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj.
Karti Chidambaram, Congress MP and the controversial son of senior Congress leader P Chidambaram, blamed the BJP for the “mischievous spin” given to Udhayanidhi’s speech. The ‘Sanatan Dharma’ is known for its caste hierarchy and Udhayanidhi was attacking this only,” said the junior Chidambaram.
The DMK leadership is known for its aversion to ‘Sanatan Dharma’. Late M Karunanidhi, the patriarch and DMK’s chief for almost five decades had described the Hindus as thieves. One of the Hindu activists had dragged him to Madras High Court for “insulting Hindus”. Though Karunanidhi had claimed that what he meant was that the Hindus were robbers of the hearts, the court was not amused. As the case reached a crucial stage, Karunanidhi died and the case was closed.