The political war of words around Udhayanidhi Stalin’s slanderous remarks against Sanatan Dharma is not going to end anytime soon as BJP has ramped up its attack against Dravida Munetra Kazhagam (DMK). K Annamalai, the chief of the Tamil Nadu unit of the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) has called for the eradication of DMK, calling it “Dengue, Malaria and Kosu.” This was response to Udaynidhi Stalin comparing Sanatan Dharm with Dengue, Malaria and Covid.
Hours after Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin and his father and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin issued their statements addressing the controversy, BJP’s Annamalai issued a “detailed rebuttal” to the CM Stalin’s statement.
Taking to X (formerly Twitter) K Annamalai shared an 11-minute 18-second long video in which he responded to CM Stalin’s claim that Sanatan Dharma essentially practices discrimination mentioning about two leaders of the state, MC Rajah who hailed from the scheduled caste and had quit the Justice Party in 1923. Speaking about the reason behind the Dalit leader M.C. Rajah quitting the Justice Party, Annamalai said, “The very founding principle of the Justice Party is not in queue with what they practice. Justice Party when they came into existence they said that they wanted to abolish the Brahmanical domination in Tamil Nadu, that was their allegation. M.C. Rajah said that the so-called Brahmincal domination is replaced by the Hindu upper caste domination there is no space for an SC leader inside the Justice Party that is why painfully he quit in 1923.”
He went to talk about DMK leader Sathyavani Muthu who was a minister in former Tamil Nadu CM Karunanidhi’s cabinet, she was however, expelled from her post and the party after she alleged in the state assembly that her own party’s government was not granting funds for the opening of a law college in Dr BR Ambedkar’s name citing lack of funds.
If something needs eradication from Tamil Nadu, it is the DMK.
— K.Annamalai (@annamalai_k) September 7, 2023
D – Dengue
M – Malaria
K – Kosu
Going forward, we are sure that people will associate these deadly diseases with DMK.
Here is my detailed rebuttal to TN CM Thiru @mkstalin avl’s press statement today. pic.twitter.com/sg6Pmp1nTv
“What was the price that Madam Sathyavani Muthu got? She was dismissed from the ministry and removed from the party also,” Annamalai said while highlighting how the DMK treated its own Dalit leaders.
Taking another swipe at CM Stalin, Annamalai said that when the DMK talks about abolishing certain ills of Sanatana Dharma and that the party is here to promote equality is like “Satan talking about Vedas to the God.”
He further highlighted that while CM Stalin claimed that his party is progressive, out of the 35 ministers in the DMK government in Tamil Nadu only two are woman ministers and only three ministers belonging to the Scheduled Castes community. Annamalai added that even those ministers have been given minor and insignificant portfolios. The BJP State President further made a comparison between the Central cabinet led by Prime Minister Modi with the state cabinet led by CM Stalin.
“Out of the 79 ministers, 20 ministers are from the SC/ST community, 11 ministers are women, 5 ministers are from the minority community. You don’t practice what you preach. You don’t give them political rights and powers, then what are you talking about improving the standards of the oppressed communities,” Annamalai said.
Annamalai further alleged that DMK is a party that runs on and promotes caste lines adding that “Tamil Nadu sees highest caste-based violence in the country and highest number of caste fault lines.”
Calling Sanatan Dharma eternal and which predates any other religion, Annamalai said that Sanatan Dharma’s very nature is timeless. “It doesn’t have an origin and an end. Sanatan Dharma views every human being, all living beings as god and treats everyone as equals.”
Annamalai further questioned CM Stalin and his son Udhayanidhi Stalin’s understanding of Sanatan Dharma pointing out that if certain discriminatory practices emerged, several social reformers emerged and abolished such practices within Sanatan Dharma. He also recalled that last year Udhayanidhi Stalin had said that he was a practising Christian and that “now he says that he does not have any faith over it.”
Towards the end of the rebuttal video, Annamalai challenged DMK to contest the coming election on the issue of Sanatan Dharma.
“The DMK says we will abolish Sanatan Dharma, we will say, we will protect Sanatan Dharma. We know the DMK drama. In first year of your power, you oppose Sanatan Dharma, in the second year, you say abolish Sanatan Dharma. The third year, you want to brutally root out Sanatan Dharma. But the fourth year, you say you are a Hindu and 90% of your members are Hindu. The fifth year, you say you are also a Hindu. So, Tamil Nadu has seen this drama for many many years,” Annamalai added.
Moreover, he took a swipe at Congres leader Rahul Gandhi saying that he becomes Amar, Akbar and Anthony as per his convenience in different states. He went on to proclaim that in the coming years, DMK as a party will be “wiped out” since “DMK stands for dengue, Malaria and Kosu.”
“When the election comes, you suddenly become Amar, Akbar, Anthony which Mr Rahul Gandhi Ji has been failing to do for the last 17 years. He becomes Amar in one state, Akbar in one state and Anthony in another said. The people of India and Tamil Nadu and the whole of Bharat have read into your elitist cabal, family-oriented corrupt practices. In 2024, DMK as a party will be wiped out. I am not saying it. Your son said it because DMK’s D stands for dengue, M for malaria and K for kosu. Good luck sir,” Annamalai said.
Earlier today, Tamil Nadu CM MK Stalin had issued a statement addressing the controversy around Udhayanidhi Stalin’s derogatory remarks against Sanatan Dharma and blamed the BJP ministers and leaders of twisting Udhayanidhi’s comments and building up fake narratives.
“Hon’ble Minister @UdhayStalin didn’t call for ‘genocide’ as distorted by BJP but only spoke against discrimination. Disheartening to see the ‘responsible’ Hon’ble Prime Minister, Union Ministers and BJP Chief Ministers ignore facts and driven on fake narratives despite having all access and resources to verify the facts,” CM Stalin posted on X.
Hon'ble Minister @UdhayStalin didn't call for 'genocide' as distorted by BJP, but only spoke against discrimination. Disheartening to see the 'responsible' Hon'ble Prime Minister, Union Ministers and BJP Chief Ministers ignore facts and driven on fake narratives despite having… pic.twitter.com/F9yrdGjxqo
— M.K.Stalin (@mkstalin) September 7, 2023
Notably, the controversy around Sanatan Dharma erupted after Udhayanidhi Stalin, the Minister for Youth Welfare and Sports Development of Tamil Nadu on September 2 said, “Mosquitoes, dengue, flu, malaria, corona – we should not oppose these things. They’ve to be eradicated completely.”
“The same is the case with Santanam (Hinduism). Our first work should be to abolish/eradicate Sanatanam instead of opposing it. So, my appreciation to you all for giving an apt title to the meeting,” he further added.
Following the footsteps of Udhayanidhi, DMK MP A Raja added fuel to the controversy by saying that Udayanidhi was soft while commenting on Sanatan Dharma and added it should have been compared to HIV and social stigmas.
Earlier in December 2022, Udhayanidhi Stalin announced that he and his wife belong to the Christian Faith. “I am proud to call myself a Christian, all the Sanghis today will be burning,” he was quoted as saying.
