Tone down anti-Sanatan Dharma rhetoric: Stalin tells DMK leaders

With BJP on an offensive mode, DMK President M K Stalin on Wednesday asked party leaders and alliance partners in Tamil Nadu to tone down their anti-Sanatan Dharma rhetoric by accusing the Modi government of utilising the controversy to “hide corruption and irregularities” of their nine-year-old government.

Stalin’s statement comes after it became increasingly clear that continued criticism of Sanatana Dharma by Tamil Nadu leaders was putting other partners of the I.N.D.I.A. bloc, especially Congress, TMC, and Shiv Sena, on the defensive. These political parties along with the DMK are now being branded by BJP as “anti-Hindu.”

“Union Ministers deliberately talk about Sanatan Dharma everyday to ensure that the issue becomes a debating point. They are doing so to divert attention from real issues that are plaguing the country. We shouldn’t give room to the BJP’s strategy of hiding its failures by raking up the (Sanatan Dharma) issue,” Stalin said.

He also accused the BJP, which he said has lost the “trust of the people”, of trying to take the country to a “dangerous path” by encouraging hate politics to achieve its goal of ushering in an “autocratic rule.”

“We should expose the BJP’s lies before the people. That should be the centerpiece of our campaign. We should travel together to achieve the goal of saving the country and its democratic structure,” Stalin added.

The CM’s statement comes a day after a video clip of his Cabinet colleague, K Ponmudy surfaced, where the latter is heard saying that the 26-party I.N.D.I.A alliance was founded to oppose the principles of Sanatan Dharma. The video is going viral on social media.

He also sought to know the status of promises made by PM Modi in 2014 like recovering black money, doubling farmers’ income, 2 crore jobs per year, and providing housing for every Indian by 2022.

“...But only the BJP’s coffers were filled. Corruption and irregularities are everywhere. The Rafale scam and Adani issues have lowered India’s status globally. The CAG has pointed out irregularities in seven schemes. Only to hide this Himalayan scams, the BJP is using Sanatan Dharma,” Stalin said.

Referring to a statement by Dravidar Kazhagam chief K Veeramani that the BJP was harping on Sanatan Dharma only to ensure that Opposition parties don’t talk about its corruption, Stalin said he was in “full agreement” with the former and asked leaders of the DMK and alliance partners to follow the advice.

“Prime Minister Narendra Modi. who has always been silent on burning issues of the country, convenes a Cabinet meeting and asks his ministers to draft a proper response to remarks on Sanatan Dharma. This only means he wants to take advantage (of the row),” Stalin added.

It all started on September 2 when Stalin’s son, Udhayanidhi, likened Sanatan Dharma to “dengue, malaria, and Covid-19”, and called for its eradication from the society.

While the BJP said Udhayanidhi called for “genocide” of Hindus, the DMK’s youth wing chief accused the saffron party of spreading lies.

Congress, TMC, and Shiv Sena had distanced themselves from Udhayanidhi’s statement saying they believe in all religions, but the DMK was in no mood to tone down its aggressive stand.