Sanatan Dharma row: ‘It is as good as a disease’, says Priyank Kharge on Udayanidhi Stalin's remarks

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Udhayanidhi Stalin, son of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin at a conference on Saturday said ‘Sanatan Dharma should be eradicated and not just opposed’. On Monday Priyank Kharge told reporters, "Any religion that does not promote equality, any religion that doesn't ensure that you have the dignity of being a human being is not a religion, according to me. So it is as good as a disease".

Udhayanidhi Stalin at a writers' conference in Chennai said Sanatan Dharma cannot be simply opposed but must be eradicated. The Tamil Nadu minister argued that the idea is inherently regressive, dividing people on the basis of caste and gender, and is fundamentally opposed to equality and social justice. Udhayanidhi Stalin said, “I congratulate the organizers for calling the conference as “eradication of Santana dharma' instead of 'opposing Sanatan Dharma'.

Udhayanidhi referred to Sanatan Dharma as 'Sanatanam' in his address in Tamil at a meet of Tamil Nadu Progressive Writers and Artists Association on Saturday. "What is Sanatanam? The very name is only from Sanskrit. Sanatan is against equality and social justice and nothing else." "What is the meaning of Sanatan? It is eternal, that is, it cannot be changed; no one could pose any question and that is the meaning." Sanatan divided people on the basis of caste, he alleged.

"Let us take a vow to win in all the 39 Parliamentary constituencies in Tamil Nadu and the one segment in Puducherry (in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls). Let Sanatan fall, Dravidam win." The minister said everything should be changed and nothing is perpetual. Meanwhile Union Defense Minister Rajnath Singh at a rally in Jaisalmer said, "...