Amid the raging controversy over DMK leader Udhayanidhi Stalin’s remarks on ‘Sanatan Dharma’, a new video has surfaced on the social media in which party’s senior leader A. Raja is heard saying that Hindu religion is a menace to India and the world. The video was shared on micro-blogging site X by Tamil Nadu BJP president K. Annamalai who said DMK was the principal reason for caste divide and hatred in the state.
In the video discussion, Raja is heard remarking that India (where the caste system exists) is the reason for the global disease of caste dividing the people on caste and economic lines.
"Caste cannot be used only for social evils but it depends on economic reasons also. Those who are living -- Indians -- in other countries are also propagating caste in the name of Hindu religion. So, Hindu religion is the biggest menace not only to India but also to the entire world," Raja is heard saying.
Raja has already stirred up a political storm after he, in a recent remark, compared ‘Sanatan Dharma’ to HIV and leprosy.
"DMK MP A. Raja calls Hindu Religion a menace to India and the world. DMK is the principal reason for creating caste divide & hatred in TN, and the DMK MP has the audacity to blame 'Sanatana Dharma' for the mess they made,” Annamalai said as he shared the new video on X.
The controversy erupted after Udhayanidhi, Tamil Nadu Youth Welfare Minister and Chief Minister M.K. Stalin’s son, allegedly likened the ‘Sanatan Dharma’ to coronavirus, malaria and dengue and said such things should not be opposed but eradicated.
"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 had said while speaking at a meeting of the Tamil Nadu Progressive Writers and Artists Association in Chennai last month.
Later, clarifying his remarks, Udhayanidhi said he had not called for the genocide of people who are following the ‘Sanatan Dharma’, but reiterated that this principle divides people in the name of caste and religion.
Later, while extending his support to Udhayanidhi, Raja fuelled the controversy as he compared ‘Sanatan Dharma’ to HIV and leprosy.
Speaking at a protest meeting against Vishwakarma Yojana organised by Dravidar Kazhagam in Chennai, Raja said that "there is neither a sense of disgust associated with malaria and dengue nor were they considered a social disgrace. What is looked upon with disgust was leprosy in the past and HIV in recent times...As far as we are concerned, it should be looked upon as a disease which is a social disgrace like HIV and leprosy."