VHP asks INDIA to drop DMK from the bloc over Sanatana Dharma remarks

LUCKNOW: Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) international working president Alok Kumar has said that if INDIA does not remove Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) as its constituent, people shall be free to assume that Tamil Nadu minister Udhaynidhi Stalin's controversial remarks on Sanatana Dharma had the endorsement of the entire opposition bloc.

"We have asked the constituents of INDIA if they agree with the comments made by Stalin. They need to clarify, else people will decide accordingly," he said.

Udhaynidhi, son of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. K. Stalin, had kicked off a row by saying that Sanatana Dharma was "like malaria and dengue which should be eradicated."


His remark sparked a political storm with the BJP calling his comment an "attack on Hinduism and identity of India."

Kumar said that Stalin's statement that people should not "merely oppose but eradicate Sanatana was something extremely serious."

"If he (Stalin) spoke on behalf of the government, then we all need to question if the administration and the government in Tamil Nadu was being run in accordance with the Constitution or if there was a complete Constitutional breakdown," he said.

The VHP chief said that the comment was made deliberately to create division in society for mere political gains.

"It is nothing but an attempt to consolidate certain sections of communities within the large Hindu umbrella. Political parties are just trying to create a vote bank in view of the parliamentary elections scheduled next year," he said, adding that Sanatana was a common spiritual heritage of all Indians.

"Instead of separating people from Sanatan, we should look for more points of unity. We should not make communities exclusive," he said.