Tamil Nadu Minister for Sports and Youth Affairs and Chief Minister MK Stalin’s son Udhayanidhi Stalin on Saturday equated “Sanatana Dharma” with “mosquitoes, dengue, malaria and corona” and called for its eradication. Udhayanidhi’s remarks created a massive political controversy with Tamil Nadu BJP accused him of peddling the “bought out Idea of Christian missionaries”.

Speaking at a conference organised by the Tamil Nadu Progressive Writers Artists Association in Chennai, Udhayanidhi said, “Few things cannot be opposed, they should be eradicated. 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 opposing it.”

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“The name Sanatana is from Sanskrit. It is against Social Justice and equality,” he added.

BJP reacts

Reacting to the Tamil Nadu minister’s remarks, Tamil Nadu State BJP President K. Annamalai said that Tamil Nadu is a land of spiritualism and that the DMK leader was parroting the “malicious ideology” of Christian missionaries.

“The only resolve that the Gopalapuram Family has is to accumulate wealth beyond the State GDP. Thiru@Udhaystalin, you, your father, or his or your ideologue have a bought-out idea from Christian missionaries & the idea of those missionaries was to cultivate dimwits like you to parrot their malicious ideology.  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!,” she wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

Amit Malviya, In-charge, BJP’s National Information & Technology Department also slammed Stalin junior for his “hate speech”.  Malviya also used Udhayanidhi’s remarks to target Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and the Opposition’s INDIA alliance bloc, of which DMK is a member.

“Rahul Gandhi speaks of ‘Mohabbat ki Dukan’ but Congress ally DMK’s scion talks about eradicating Sanatana Dharma. Congress’s silence is support for this genocidal call… I.N.D.I A alliance, true to its name, if given an opportunity, will annihilate the millennia old civilisation that is Bharat,” he tweeted with a video of Stalin’s speech.

Udhayanidhi firm on his words

Reacting to Malviya’s tweet, Udhayanidhi said he was speaking on behalf of “oppressed and marginalised” and never called for a genocide of Sanatan Dharma followers.

“I never called for the genocide of people who are following Sanatan Dharma. Sanatan Dharma is a principle that divides people in the name of caste and religion. Uprooting Sanatan Dharma is upholding humanity and human equality,” he wrote on X.

“I stand firmly by every word I have spoken. I spoke on behalf of the oppressed & marginalized, who suffer due to the Sanatan Dharma,” he said adding he was ready to face legal challenges.