After Udhayanidhi Stalin, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) MP A Raja too has made a statement likening Sanatana Dharma to illnesses like leprosy and HIV leading to criticism from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Raja made the statement while speaking at a protest meeting organised by Dravidar Kazhagam (DK) in Valluvar Kottam of Chennai, on Wednesday, September 6.
The DMK leader said he was ready for a debate on Sanatana Dharma and challenged the Prime Minister Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah to organise one in any place and time of their choice in Delhi. Raja said that the statement of Udhayanidhi was discussed widely throughout India and that he had criticised Sanatana Dharma “softly”.
Udhayanidhi Stalin, on September 2, had said that Sanatana Dharma should not just be opposed but eradicated “like Malaria and Dengue. Pointing to this, Raja said, “He put it so softly saying that Sanatana Dharma should be eradicated like malaria and dengue. But neither malaria nor dengue has a social stigma attached to it. People are not disgusted by it. But Sanatana Dharma, which has to be seen with disgust, can be compared with leprosy which was once stigmatised; now it is HIV. We should see Sanatana Dharma like leprosy and HIV.”
The statement evoked criticism from the Bharatiya Janata Party. Sharing a screenshot of a news channel report that said “A Raja has compared Sanatan Dharma to HIV, leprosy” in Hindi, BJP’s IT cell in-charge Amit Malviya said on X platform that A Raja has targeted “80% of Bharat’s population” through his speech.
“After Udhaynidhi Stalin, it is now DMK’s A Raja, who denigrates Sanatan Dharma… This is nothing but unadulterated hate speech, targeting 80% of Bharat’s population, who follow Sanatan Dharma. This is the true character of Congress led I.N.D.I Alliance, who think demeaning Hindus is the only way to win elections. Was this decided in the Mumbai meet?”
Challenging PM Modi and HM Shah to a debate on Sanatana Dharma, Raja said:. “Bring anyone from the BJP. Let there be all your gurus and anyone with weapons or whatever. I will come with books of Periyar and Ambedkar and talk. I am ready for a public debate on Sanatana Dharma. But I can only speak in English, not Hindi. If you cannot understand, it is not my problem,” he said.
A day earlier, speaking at a public meeting in Puducherry, he had made a similar statement. “Let the people of the country decide who is right? I am ready. DMK is ready. Are you ready?,” he asked.
Raja said the thought behind the Union government’s Vishwakarma Yojana was not different from the Sanatana Dharma. Vishwakarma Yojana is a scheme that was announced by PM Modi during his Independence Day speech. Under the scheme, loans will be provided to youths who want to take up on the traditional trades. According to a PIB release, it aims at strengthening and nurturing of “the Guru-Shishya parampara or family-based practice of traditional skills by artisans and craftspeople working with their hands and tools”.
Following this, multiple right-wing social media handles have posted a Hindi translation of the part of his speech that likens Sanatana Dharma to HIV and leprosy. The MP was caught in a similar controversy last year, when he said that these were difficult times and one should not hesitate to question the identity of a Hindu. He further said that a person would remain a Shudra and an untouchable as long as they were Hindu, and they would be a ‘son of a prostitute’ as long as they were a Shudra. “The roots of sanatana dharma could be cut, only if people question if they want to be the son of a prostitute and an untouchable,” he said. This sparked massive outrage, with the BJP filing a police complaint against him.