A Supreme Court bench of Justices Aniruddha Bose and Bela M Trivedi today (22 September) issued notices to Udhayanidhi Stalin, the Tamil Nadu government and others regarding his remarks calling for the eradication of Sanatana Dharma by comparing with diseases like dengue, malaria and corona.
Udhayanidhi had said, "I congratulate the organisers for calling the conference as 'eradicate Sanatana Dharma' instead of 'opposing Sanatana Dharma.'
"There are some things which we have to eradicate and we can't merely oppose. Mosquitoes, dengue fever, malaria, corona, all these are things which we cannot oppose, we have to eradicate them. Sanatanam is also like this.
"Eradicating and not opposing Sanatanam should be our first task.
"What is Sanatanam? The name Sanatanam has come from Sanskrit. Sanatanam is against equality and social justice. The meaning of Sanatanam is nothing but 'permanence', something which cannot be changed. Nobody can question. This is the meaning of Sanatanam."
According to a report by Deccan Herald, the notices were issued on a plea by an advocate B Jagannath, who sought a CBI investigation into the case and an FIR to be lodged against Udhayanidhi.
Among the measures sought by Jagannath were an injunction against Udhayanidhi, A Raja and others against making any further comments on Sanatana Dharma or Hinduism, a declaration that Udhayanidhi's participation in the conference to eradicate Sanatana Dharma was unconstitutional, a report from the police as to why was permission given for such a conference and the appointment of a nodal officer for hate speech.
The Supreme Court's action comes around two weeks after a group of 262 eminent citizens wrote a letter to Chief Justice of India asking him to take suo moto cognisance of the remarks.
They had written that Udhayanidhi's remarks constituted 'hate speech' and the state government should have taken action against him without waiting for a formal complaint as per earlier directions of the Supreme Court.
Multiple FIRs had been filed against Udhayanidhi across the country.
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