Tamil Nadu minister Udhayanidhi Stalin referred to President Draupadi Murmu as an example of caste discrimination as he defended his Sanatana Dharma-malaria comment which is at the centre of a raging controversy. Udhayanidhi Stalin said President Droupadi Murmu was not invited to the inauguration of the new Parliament building because of caste discrimination. To this, Tamil Nadu BJP president K Annamalai said in the presidential election DMK did not vote for her but sided with Yashwant Sinha. “BJP’s choice of Presidential candidate reflects the thought process of the practitioners of the Sanatana Dharma!” Annamalai said adding that DMK voted against Abdul Kalam and Ram Nath Kovind. “Our country for long has seen that DMK wishes to keep brothers & sisters of the minority and scheduled community as their vote bank & will never want them to rise up the ranks.” Annamalai tweeted.
Sanatan Dharma row: Here are the latest updates
1. An FIR was registered in Uttar Pradesh against Congress leader Priyanka Kharge and DMK’s Udhayanidhi Stalin for their Sanatan Dharma comment under sections 153A, 295A Indian Penal Code (IPC).
2. Udhayanidhi stood by his statement against Sanatan Dharma and said his statement was not against Hinduism but against caste-based society propagated by Sanatan. As an example he said, “Honourable President, Draupadi Murmu was not invited to the opening of the Parliament, that is the best current example.”
3. Tamil Nadu BJP president K Annamalai said it is the Sanatan Dharma that made Droupadi Murmu the first tribal woman president. “You (DMK) voted for Yashwant Sinha (against Murmu); to which community does he belong? Why did not you vote for her (Murmu) then,” Annamalai said.
4. “DMK has been inventing new meanings for Sanatana Dharma ever since their open call for its eradication received opposition from all quarters. Now they are saying Sanatan Dharma means Brahmin domination. They decided it themselves. Sanatan means something that has no beginning or end. Sanatan Dharma has been there for 20,000 years. No one knows when it started. And it will be there for another 1 lakh to 2 lakh years. Sanatan Dharma’s fundamental principle is equating every human being to God. Only Sanatan Dharma says plants too feel pain and that we have to take care of animals like cows. They too have feelings. Sanatan Dharma says to take care of dogs like child. There is no discrimination. Everybody is equal,” Annamalai said adding that caste system was not created by Sanatan Dharma.
5. The caste system was created by mankind and is being mended by humankind, Annamalai said adding that Sahajananda Swamy and Adi Shankaracharya preached that all are equal. “Hinduism is Sanatan Dharma which sees humans as Gods,” Annamalai said.
6. PM Modi is believed to have commented on the Sanatan Dharma row and asked ministers to give fact-based befitting replies to the ‘insult’ to Sanatan Dharma.
7. Union minister Pralhad Joshi said the Gandhi family not condemning Udhayanidhi’s comment shows they are endorsing it. “I will like to ask Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi, who is trying to do politics over Parliament’s session, that if you are really interested in sarva dharma sambhav then you must condemn the statement of Stalin. Otherwise, the county will believe that you are endorsing his statement,” Joshi said.
8. Another controversy broke out in connection with Sanatan as Karnataka home minister G Parameshwara questioned the origin of Hinduism. “The question is when was Hinduism born, who created it?.. Many religions have arisen in the history of the world. Jainism and Buddhism were born here. When was Hinduism born and who started it is still a question,” Parameshwara said.
9. Union minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar said it is a pattern that after DMK’s Udhayanidhi, now a Congress minister attacked the Hindu religion. “G Parameshwara has made this very shocking statement and it’s certainly looking like it’s a pattern and a planned attack on the Hindu faith,” Rajeev Chandrashekhar said.
10. “The word Sanatan itself has the answer. It means something which has no beginning and no end. It was in existence from eternity and will continue till infinitely,” Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said attacking Karnataka’s home minister. “The home minister of such a big state like Karnataka cannot understand such a simple thing, whereas someone like me from a small state can get it,” Himanta said.
