Sanatana Dharma row: PM Modi asks ministers to give befitting reply
Modi raised the issue about the Sanatan Dharma row in an informal conversation with his ministers during a Cabinet meeting, said sources
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday (September 6) is learned to have told his cabinet colleagues that Tamil Nadu minister Udhayanidhi Stalin's remarks on Sanatan Dharma "needs proper response".
Modi raised the issue in an informal conversation with his ministers during a Cabinet meeting, said sources familiar with the development. Modi told his ministers to first learn about Sanatana Dharma and then give an appropriate response to the debate.
The prime minister’s response came a day after Udhayanidhi cited how the Central government omitted to invite President Droupadi Murmu to the inauguration of the new parliament building as an instance of discrimination by practitioners of Sanatan Dharma.
Not called for genocide: Udhayanidhi
Udhayanidhi has refused to apologise for his comments.
Responding to a post on X by BJP IT cell head Amit Malaviya, the Tamil Nadu minister stood his ground and said, “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. I stand firmly by every word I have spoken. I spoke on behalf of the oppressed & marginalized, who suffer due to the Sanatan Dharma.”
Malaviya in his post on X had likened his linking of Sanatan Dharma to malaria and dengue and their eradication to “genocide of 80% population of Bharat”. “Udhayanidhi Stalin, son of Tamilnadu CM MK Stalin, and a minister in the DMK Govt, has linked Sanatana Dharma to malaria and dengue… He is of the opinion that it must be eradicated and not merely opposed. In short, he is calling for genocide of 80% population of Bharat, who follow Sanatan Dharma,” Malaviya said.
Saying that he was “ready to present the extensive writings of Periyar and Ambedkar, who conducted in-depth research on Sanatan Dharma and its negative impact on society in any forum,” Udhayanidhi asked Malaviya to stop spreading fake news. “I am prepared to confront any challenges that come my way, whether in a court of law or the people's court. Stop spreading fake news,” he wrote in his reply to Malaviya’s post on X.
