On ‘Sanatana Dharma’ row, Anurag Thakur’s ‘Ghamandiya alliance’ jibe at opposition’s INDIA bloc

Union minister Anurag Thakur on Thursday hit out at the opposition’s INDIA bloc over the ‘Sanatana Dharma’ row.

That ignited after Tamil Nadu chief minister MK Stalin’s son Udhayanidhi’s remarks, calling it a “Ghamandiya” (arrogant) alliance. The union minister questioned where Congress leader Rahul Gandhi is amid the controversy, and said, “I should make one thing clear…we won’t tolerate the insult of Sanatana Dharma”.

Speaking to the media, Anurag Thakur said, “In this ‘Nafrat ki dukaan’ of Rahul Gandhi the members of ‘Ghamandiya’ alliance (referring to INDIA bloc) are selling ‘Nafrat ka saamaan’. They are demeaning Sanatana Dharma.”

“…Where is Rahul Gandhi sleeping? Wake up…Do you agree with these statements? Isn’t it a violation of law and constitution? Isn’t this hate speech? Shouldn’t they apologise to the people of the country?” the union minister questioned.

A massive controversy erupted last week after Udhayanidhi Stalin compared the ‘Sanatana Dharma’ with diseases like dengue and malaria and said it should not be merely opposed but “eradicated”.

“A few things cannot be opposed, that should be abolished only. We can’t oppose dengue, mosquitoes, malaria, or corona. We have to eradicate this, that’s how we have to eradicate Sanatana. Rather opposing Sanatana it should be eradicated,” he said in Chennai.

An FIR was also launched against Udhayanidhi under Section 153A (promoting enmity between different religious groups), 295A (deliberate and malicious acts to outrage religious feelings) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) based on the complaints from advocates Harsh Gupta and Ram Singh Lodhi. The advocates in the complaint highlighted media reports on Stalin’s statement alleging that the politician’s comments had hurt their feelings, reported PTI.