Tamil Nadu: 'DMK Has Been Inventing New Meanings For Sanatana Dharma', Says Annamalai

In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) state president K Annamalai today (6 September) said that the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) has been coming up with new meanings of Sanatana Dharma ever since Udhayanidhi Stalin called for its eradication by equating it with diseases like malaria and dengue.

He also attached a video of his speech during his En Mann En Makkal padayatra in Vasudevanallur, where he spoke about the meaning of Sanatana Dharma.

In the speech, he said, "What is Sanatana Dharma? DMK says it means Brahminism. They say it means Brahmin domination. They designed a name by themselves.

"The real meaning of Sanatan Dharma is a Dharma which has no beginning and no end. No one knows when it was born. It is there since 20000 years. It will be there for another 1 or 2 lakh years.

"Sanatana Dharma's fundamental principle is equating a human to God. Only Sanatana Dharma says trees and plants undergo pain. We have to care of animals too, for example cows. Animals too have intelligence, they too have feeling. Sanatana Dharma says to take care of a dog like a child.

"There is no discrimination in this. There is no inequality. Everyone are equal. Upper caste and lower caste was not created by Sanatana Dharma. It was created by mankind. And that is being mended by mankind.

"Sahajananda Swamy said all religions and castes are equal. Ramanujar said all are equal. Adi Shankaracharya said all are equal.

"Whenever there were issues, Mahans came from the same dharma to mend them. It is not Brahminism, upper caste domination.

"Hinduism sees humans as Gods. Hinduism is Sanatana Dharma."

This is not the first time that Annamalai has questioned the DMK's efforts to portray Hinduism as different from Sanatana Dharma. He had earlier shared a video of Dravidar Kazhagam (DK) leader K Veeramani stating that Hinduism was the same as Sanatana Dharma. Veeramani had made the remarks at the same conference, before Udhayanidhi, he said.

A number of complaints have been filed against Udhayanidhi in places like Delhi, Lucknow, Rampur and Muzaffarpur. A Mahant from Ayodhya has announced a bounty of Rs 10 crore on Udhayanidhi.

On 5 September, a group of 262 eminent citizens consisting of former judges, bureaucrats and armed forces officers had sent a letter to Chief Justice of India, DY Chandrachud asking him to take cognisance of the remarks, saying that it constituted 'hate speech.'

His remarks have been criticised by leaders like Mamata Banerjee of the Trinamool Congress, Arvind Kejriwal of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Dr Karan Singh of the Congress, who are part of the I.N.D.I.A alliance.

Udhayanidhi has however remained defiant and said that he would not apologise for his remarks.