Sanatana Dharma row: Supreme Court issues notice to Indian politician Udhayanidhi Stalin

The row over Sanatana Dharma remark reached the Supreme Court on Friday (Sept 22) after it issued notices to Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin's son and DMK leader Udhayanidhi Stalin.

The young scion had stirred up a massive controversy after he called for the eradication of Sanatana Dharma, another name for Hindu religion, to bring social justice during a public rally on September 2.

His remarks were widely condemned by Hindu religious groups and the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, even as the opposition bloc, which the DMK is part of, struggled to come clean on the issue. Several cases were also registered against the Tamil Nadu politician.

SC seeks response

On Friday, the apex court issued notices to the Tamil Nadu government, Udhayanidhi Stalin, and 12 others, and sought their response.

The court’s order came in response to a plea filed by Chennai-based lawyer Jagannath urging that Stalin and other leaders be barred from making further statements about 'Sanatana Dharma', and the declaration at the September 2 conference in Tamil Nadu as unconstitutional.

The petition argued that the conference had a deliberate agenda to target Hinduism and propagate hatred by employing offensive and derogatory language.

While hearing the matter, the SC bench, comprising Justices Aniruddha Bose and Bela M Trivedi, questioned the petitioner why he didn’t approach the Madras High Court first.

To this the lawyer of the petitioner argued that if an individual had made these remarks, they would have approached the lower court, but “a minister and state machinery being unleashed against a particular religion."

The bench then told him, "You are transforming us into a police station."

However, as the counsel submitted similar issues related to hate speech were pending, the court issued notice in the matter.

What did Udhayanidhi say?

During his speech at a gathering of the Tamil Nadu Progressive Writers and Artists Association, he asserted that Sanatan Dharma goes against principles ofequalityand social justice, and equated it to diseases like coronavirus, malaria and dengue.

Udhayanidhi said the very name Sanatan is from Sanskrit.

"What is the meaning of Sanatan? It is eternal, that is, it cannot be changed; no one could pose any question and that is the meaning." Sanatan divided people on the basis of caste, he alleged.

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