Tamil Nadu Minister for Youth Welfare and Sports Development, Udhayanidhi Stalin addressed a meeting held by DMK’s Adi Dravidar Welfare Wing on Tuesday. He spoke about his remarks on Sanatana Dharma which created a controversy and said he will not apologise for saying that all people are born equal.
The DMK minister stated: “I said that everyone is born equal. My speech was misinterpreted and spread with negative connotations by the BJP and by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. There is a case on this which is pending in court. I won’t extend any apology as I am clear that I didn’t say anything wrong. Whatever I said has been said by Dr BR Ambedkar and former Chief Minister M Karunanidhi numerous times.”
An apology has been demanded many times from Udhayanidhi but he has repeatedly said he will not apolgise for the comments about Sanatana Dharma. The DMK leader also stated the BJP was mixing religion and politics and condemned this.
It was in September last year that the controversy erupted over his comments on Sanatana Dharma. He referred to Sanatana Dharma as Sanatanam during his address in Tamil at a meet of the Tamil Nadu Progressive Writers and Artists Association in Chennai on Saturday. “What is Sanatanam? The very name is only from Sanskrit. Sanatan is against equality and social justice and nothing else,” he said. He likened Sanatana Dharma to coronavirus, malaria and dengue and said such things should not be opposed but destroyed.
Meanwhile, Udhayanidhi has been preparing for the Lok Sabha polls in Tamil Nadu. At a recent DMK event, the DMK youth wing secretary told the cadres, “We should aim for higher votes in the ensuing Lok Sabha election than the votes polled in the last election. If we get lesser votes than the last general election and still emerge victorious, the opposition parties may say that we have lost credibility.”