‘People in Tamil Nadu more Hindu than North Indians’: Congress’ Karti Chidambaram rejects ‘anti-Sanatan’ charge | India News
New Delhi: Congress MP Karti Chidambaram Tamil Nadu on Sunday rejected accusations of being “hostile” to Sanatan Dharma, instead claiming that people in the state are “more Hindu than North Indians”.The BJP has often accused the Congress, its ally the ruling DMK in Tamil Nadu and its other Bharat Bloc partners of being “anti-Sanatana Dharma”. Political attacks stemmed from controversial past comments Udayanidhi StalinSon of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and DMK supremo MK Stalin. Udyananidhi is now serving as the Deputy Chief Minister of the state.“What is Sanatan? A word nobody uses in Tamil Nadu… We are more Hindu than North Indians. We have more temples per square kilometer. We break more coconuts every day. I personally visit more temples than many BJP people,” Chidambaram told ANI.“There is not a single day that I step out of my house without wearing a vibhuti or kundalma. ‘Sanatana Dharma’ is not a phrase we use,” he adds.Following the controversy sparked in 2023 by Udayanidhi Stalin’s comments, the Sivaganga MP blamed the uproar on “different interpretations” of the term.“The issue became controversial because Udayanidhi Stalin made a comment about the term. In Tamil Nadu, it refers to the caste hierarchy – here is how it is generally interpreted. He was talking about the caste hierarchy, not the practice of Hindu beliefs,” Chidambaram said.In 2023, Udayanidhi compared “sanatan” to diseases like malaria and dengue, saying it should be “eradicated” rather than simply opposed, sparking a nationwide political debate.He commented, “Sanatan is like malaria and dengue, and so it has to be eradicated, not just opposition. I thank the organizers for naming the event ‘Sanatan Bulipupti Sammelan’ instead of ‘Sanatan Vilopti Sammelan’.” Some things cannot be contradicted; They must be abolished. We don’t oppose dengue, mosquitoes, malaria or corona – we eradicate them. Likewise Sanatana must be eradicated without opposition.“Assembly elections are going to be held in Tamil Nadu in April. Although the Congress is an ally of the DMK, it is not part of the state government, in keeping with the prevailing political practice in the southern state.
