Did opposition INDIA bloc’s meeting in Mumbai decide on targeting Sanatan Dharma, ask BJP leaders

PTI, Sep 4, 2023, 4:10 PM IST

Representative image (Source: PTI)

New Delhi: The BJP on Monday intensified its attack on the opposition over DMK leader Udhayanidhi Stalin’s remarks on Sanatan Dharma, asking the Congress if the INDIA bloc had met in Mumbai to target the religion and stressed that they should not play with Hindu sentiments.

What he has said is shocking and shameful, former Union minister and BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad said, noting that the son of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin has repeated his remarks.

He has been ably assisted by Congress MP Karti Chidambaram, whose father and former finance minister P Chidambaram is facing trial in a corruption case, he said.

”Why are opposition leaders like Rahul Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge, Nitish Kumar, Mamata Banerjee silent? Are you playing with Hindu sentiments for votes? They should know that hundreds of years of Islamic rule could not exterminate Sanatan Dharma and British imperialism could not dilute it,” Prasad told reporters.

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is a declared Sanatani, he added.

Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal hit out at opposition parties and asked the Congress if the INDIA bloc had met in Mumbai to finalise its agenda against Sanatan Dharma and how to finish it off across the country. ”Is this your ‘mohabbat ki dukan’ (shop to spread love),” he asked and accused Congress leader K C Venugopal of spewing venom against the religion.

Another Union minister Prahlad Patel alleged that the attack on Sanatan Dharma was part of the conspiracy decided on during the opposition parties’ meeting in Mumbai.

The silence of those who get themselves photographed in temples, be it Rahul Gandhi or Arvind Kejriwal, is telling, he said.

In his address at a meeting of Tamil Nadu Progressive Writers and Artists Association in Chennai on Saturday, state Youth Welfare Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin alleged that ‘Sanatan Dharma’ is against equality and social justice, and that it should be eradicated.

Likening Sanatan Dharma to coronavirus, malaria and fever caused by dengue virus and mosquitoes, Udhayanidhi said such things should not be opposed but destroyed.