’Sanatana dharma is like malaria and dengue..,’ Udhayanidhi Stalin’s remark sparks huge outcry

Udhayanidhi Stalin, who serves as a Tamil Nadu minister and is the son of Chief Minister MK Stalin, made a controversial statement on Saturday on ‘Santana Dharma’

He said that the view that Sanatana Dharma is incompatible with the concept of social justice and should be “eliminated.”

Stalin drew a parallel between Sanatana Dharma and diseases like dengue and malaria, which has led to strong criticism from BJP leaders.

"Sanatana is like malaria and dengue and so it must be eradicated and not opposed," Udhayanidhi Stalin said as reported by news agency ANI.

The remarks sparked a significant backlash on social media, with numerous individuals urging for legal action to be taken against the Tamil Nadu minister.

BJP's Amit Malviya took to X and slammed MK Stalin adding, “Rahul Gandhi speaks of 'Mohabbat ki dukaan' but Congress ally DMK's scion talks about eradicating Sanatana Dharma. Congress's silence is support for this genocidal call. INDIA Alliance, true to its name, if given an opportunity, will annihilate the millennia-old civilisation that is Bharat.”

Additionally, connecting the minister's comments to the third gathering of the Opposition alliance in Mumbai, Malviya suggested that the members of the coalition should provide clarification regarding whether this was the stance they collectively endorsed during the meeting.

The DMK, which is a part of the INDIA bloc, held discussions with fellow opposition leaders in Mumbai recently. The purpose of this meeting was to coordinate and refine their strategies for the upcoming 2024 Lok Sabha elections, in which they will be competing against the BJP-led NDA.

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Stalin made these comments during a writers' conference in Chennai, where he expressed the opinion that Sanatana Dharma should not just be opposed but completely eliminated. The Tamil Nadu minister contended that this concept is inherently regressive, as it perpetuates divisions among people based on caste and gender, and fundamentally contradicts the principles of equality and social justice.

"The only resolve that the Gopalapuram Family has is to accumulate wealth beyond the State GDP. Thiru Udhayanidhi Stalin, you, your father, or his or your idealogue have a bought-out idea from Christian missionaries and the idea of those missionaries was to cultivate dimwits like you to parrot their malicious ideology," Mr Annamalai wrote on X.

As reported by ANI, addressing a conference in Chennai on Saturday, the minister for Sports and Youth Affairs in the Tamil Nadu government railed against Sanatan Dharma, saying, “Few things cannot be opposed, they should only be abolished. We can't oppose Dengue, mosquitoes, Malaria, or Corona, we have to eradicate them. In the same way, we have to eradicate Sanatana (Sanatan Dharma). Rather than merely opposing Sanatana, it should be eradicated.”

Taking a further swipe at Udhayanidhi, the BJP state chief posted, "Tamil Nadu is a land of spiritualism. The best you can do is to hold a Mic in an event like this & rant out your frustration!"

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Additionally, connecting the minister's comments to the third gathering of the Opposition alliance in Mumbai, Malviya said that the members of the coalition should provide clarification regarding whether this was the stance they collectively endorsed during the meeting.

"(The) DMK is a prominent member of the Opposition block and a long-standing ally of the Congress. Is this what was agreed in the Mumbai meet?" the BJP leader asked.

Significantly, Congress is a partner of the DMK in the ruling alliance in Tamil Nadu.