INDIA bloc insulting Sanatan Dharma: Amit Shah on DMK minister's comment

Mukesh Ranjan

New Delhi, September 3

A day after DMK leader Udhayanidhi Stalin likened Sanatana Dharma to coronavirus and malaria and called for its destruction, Union Home Minister and senior BJP leader Amit Shah today lambasted opposition INDIA coalition parties accusing them of insulting Hinduism for vote bank and appeasement politics.

Udaynidhi, DMK youth wing secretary and Tamil Nadu Youth Welfare Minister, referred to Sanatan Dharma as ‘Sanatanam’ while addressing a meeting of the Tamil Nadu Progressive Writers’ and Artists’ Association in Chennai and likened it to “coronavirus, malaria and fever caused by dengue virus and mosquitoes”, saying such things “should not be opposed but destroyed”.

At a public rally in poll-bound Rajasthan’s Dungarpur, Shah said, “These people are talking about Sanatan Dharma for vote bank appeasement. They have insulted Sanatan Dharma.”

Describing the INDIA bloc as “ghamandiya gathbandhan”, Shah said the alliance could go to any extent for vote bank politics.

Alleging it was not the first time that vote bank appeasement was in play, Shah said, “Manmohan Singh had said minorities had the first right on the Budget. We say that the Dalits, tribals and backward classes have the first right.”

He alleged that Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had said “Hindu organisations are more dangerous than the Lashkar-e-Toiba”. “You compare Hindu organisations with the Lashkar-e-Toiba. Your minister used to talk about Hindu terror. The INDIA bloc can go to any extent for vote bank and appeasement politics,” Shah said.

Terming the DMK leader’s remarks as “hate speech”, the BJP’s national spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi urged the Supreme Court to take action against him in accordance with the law. He said the remarks had exposed the real character of the alliance. “This is not a statement given in isolation. It has a complete consequential sequence,” Trivedi added.

Controversial remark

Udaynidhi Stalin, DMK youth wing secretary and Tamil Nadu Youth Welfare Minister, had on Saturday likened Sanatan Dharma to “coronavirus, malaria and fever caused by dengue virus and mosquitoes”, saying such things “should not be opposed but destroyed”. Describing the INDIA bloc as “ghamandiya gathbandhan”, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said the alliance could go to any extent for vote bank politics.