Udhayanidhi Stalin clarifies stand on Sanatana Dharma; posts open letter

Chennai: Udhayanidhi Stalin, the minister for sports and youth affairs in Tamil Nadu, has published a four-page open letter to DMK members outlining his views on the Sanatana Dharma controversy.

Udhayanidhi, the son of Chief Minister M.K. Stalin, maintained his stance on Dravidian equality while claiming that "the DMK was not against any religion."

Quoting Late DMK ideologue and former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, C.N. Annadurai, Udhayanidhi said that if 'a religion was professing equality and casteless society he would become a spiritual person but if a religion was promoting casteism he would be the first to oppose it'.

Udhayanidhi Stalin also requested the state government not to take any action against the Ayodhya Seer Paramahans, who had announced "a bounty of Rs 10 crore to anyone who beheaded" him. He also called upon the cadres not to resort to the burning of effigy of the seer, Paramahans.

The young scion of the DMK also said that the BJP was trying to distort his statement and that even Union Home Minister Amit Shah had twisted his comments.

Udhayanidhi Stalin had in a public programme stated that Sanatana Dharma has to be "eradicated just like mosquitoes, dengue, malaria and Corona".

BJP had taken up the issue at the national level with the party's IT cell head Amit Malaviya in a social media post stating that Udayanidhi had called for the eradication of Hindus in the country".

With inputs from IANS