New Delhi: The Congress has said that the party believed in “sarvadharma sambhav” (equal respect for all religions) on Thursday and stated that it disagreed with statements made by DMK leaders Udhayanidhi Stalin and A Raja regarding “Sanatan Dharma.”
The opposition party further said that the INDIA alliance members all have a great respect for all faiths, communities, and beliefs.
The claim was made in the midst of a political controversy after DMK leader Udhayanidhi Stalin accused ‘Sanatan Dharma’ of encouraging racial and social discrimination and called for its eradication. A Raja, the leader of the DMK, allegedly remarked that “Sanatan Dharma” should be contrasted with socially stigmatised conditions like AIDS and leprosy.
Asked about comments by leaders of ally DMK, Congress’ media and publicity department head Pawan Khera said, “The Congress has always believed in ‘sarvadharma sambhav’ wherein every religion, every faith has its space. No one can treat any particular faith as less than another faith. Neither the Constitution allows this nor the Indian National Congress believes in any of these comments.”
“If you know the history of the Indian National Congress you would know that we have always maintained (this stand) and you will find the same principles in the Constituent Assembly debates and the Constitution of India. There can never be a rethink on the Constitution as far as the Congress is concerned,” he said.
Pressed further as to why the Congress had not condemned the remarks, Khera said, “I just said we do not agree with such comments.” Asked if the Congress would raise this with its ally DMK, Khera said there is no need to raise these issues because “we know for a fact that each one of our constituents also respects every religion”.
“Now if you want to twist anybody’s remarks, they are free to do so. If it suits the PM let him twist those remarks but every single member of the INDIA alliance has immense respect for all faiths, communities, beliefs and religions,” he said.
Last week, in his address at a meeting of the Tamil Nadu Progressive Writers and Artists Association in Chennai, Stalin likened Sanatan Dharma to coronavirus, malaria and dengue and said such things should not be opposed but destroyed.
He, however, later claimed that he had not called for violence against the followers of Sanatan Dharma.
“Sanatan Dharma is a principle that divides people in the name of caste and religion. Uprooting Sanatan Dharma is upholding humanity and human equality,” he had alleged while reiterating his remarks against Sanatan Dharma, a term used by many Hindus to describe their religion.
On September 7, Raja claimed in a meeting with DMK booth agents in Udhagamandalam that people in North India had realised the necessity of defeating Hindutva forces and were now looking to the DMK and Dravidian parties for “the cure.”
The Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, he claimed, had not denounced the “barbarous” sexual assault of two Kuki women in Manipur, while Home Minister Amit Shah had justified it in a speech to the Parliament. “This is the state of the nation. India is on fire, and nobody is safe, he declared.
