'INDIA alliance's agenda is to end country's ‘Sanatan’ culture', says PM Modi

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Thursday (September 14), slammed the opposition's INDIA alliance calling it 'ghamandia' (arrogant). He further said that the bloc wants to destroy Sanatan Dharma and push the country back into "a thousand years' slavery".

While addressing a massive gathering at Bina in poll-bound Madhya Pradesh, PM Modi dubbed the INDIA bloc as an “INDI alliance” that "does not have a leader" and also denounced it for having a hidden agenda of attacking Sanatan Dharma.

"The 'ghamandia' alliance met in Mumbai recently. They have neither any policies, nor issues, nor a leader. They have a hidden agenda of attacking Sanatan Dharma which they want to destroy," he said.

"They are bent on destroying the ideologies, cultures and traditions that have kept the country and our people together for centuries," the PM added.

The Indian Prime Minister then asserted that Swami Vivekananda and Lokmanya Tilak also drew inspiration from SanatanDharma.

"The people of this INDIA alliance want to erase that 'SanatanDharma' which gave inspiration to Swami Vivekananda and Lokmanya Tilak. Today they have openly started targeting Sanatan, tomorrow they will increase the attacks on us. All 'Sanatanis' across the country and the people who love our country will have to be alert," he said.

He then said that Sanatan Dharma also inspired the Father of the Nation, Mahatma Gandhi, and that his struggle for freedom was centred around it.

"Gandhi followed Sanatan Dharma all his life and his last words were, 'Hey Ram'", Modi noted.

This was PM Modi's first public response to DMK leader Udhayanidhi Stalin's remarks on Sanatana Dharma that courted controversy.

The son of the Tamil Nadu chief minister sparked a row on Saturday (September 2) by saying that SanatanDharma is against social justice and must be "eradicated".

He then compared it with diseases like dengue and malaria, inviting sharp criticism.

"Few things cannot be opposed; they should only be abolished. We can't oppose dengue, mosquitoes, malaria, or coronavirus, we have to eradicate them. In the same way, we have to eradicate Sanatana (Sanatan Dharma). Rather than merely opposing Sanatana, it should be eradicated," Stalin said.

His comments triggered severe backlash on social media and also invited sharp criticism from many political figures.

(With inputs from agencies)

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