Udhayanidhi Stalin's Sanatana Dharma remarks amount to hate speech: Madras HC
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Madurai: In a significant legal observation, the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court stated on Wednesday that Tamil Nadu Deputy Chief Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin's 2023 remarks on Sanatana Dharma amounted to hate speech. The court termed the comments a "clear attack on Hinduism" and noted that the minister belonged to a political lineage that has targeted the faith for over a century.
The single-judge bench made strong observations regarding the ideological history of the ruling party. " It is evident that there has been a clear attack on Hinduism by the Dravida Kazhagam and, subsequently, by the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam for the past 100 years, to which the Minister belongs," the court noted. It further expressed "pain" that the legal system often targets those who react to inflammatory speech while the original instigators are frequently left "scot-free."
Addressing the specific terminology used by the Deputy CM, the court rejected the defence that the comments were harmless. It clarified that the call to "eradicate" Sanatana Dharma implied "genocide" or "culturicide." The judge reasoned, " If a group of people following Sanatana Dharma should not exist, the appropriate word is 'genocide. Therefore, the Tamil phrase ‘Sanathana Ozhippu’ would clearly mean genocide or culturicide."
The controversy stems from a September 2023 conference where Udhayanidhi compared Sanatana Dharma to diseases like dengue and malaria, arguing it should be "eradicated" rather than merely opposed. While the minister has maintained that his comments were a critique of caste-based discrimination rather than a call for violence, the court pointed out that no cases were filed against him within Tamil Nadu despite the inflammatory nature of the speech.
These observations come as a political setback for the DMK leader ahead of the state Assembly elections scheduled for later this year. Earlier in January 2025, the Supreme Court had declined to entertain writ petitions seeking criminal action against Udhayanidhi regarding the same issue.