Sanatan Dharma row: BJP seeks Udhayanidhi's apology, submits protest letter at Tamil Nadu House

New Delhi: BJP leaders in Delhi sought an apology from Tamil Nadu Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin for his comments against 'Sanatan Dharma' and submitted a protest letter to the state's resident commissioner here on Monday.

A delegation from the BJP's Delhi unit, including its president Virendra Sachdeva, MPs Harsh Vardhan and Parvesh Verma, visited the Tamil Nadu House to submit the protest letter addressed to Chief Minister MK Stalin. Tamil Nadu Youth Welfare Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin has courted controversy after claiming that 'Sanatan Dharma' is against equality and social justice and that it should be eradicated.

Udhayanidhi Stalin, the son of the Tamil Nadu chief minister, also likened 'Sanatan Dharma' to the coronavirus, malaria and dengue and said such things should not be opposed but destroyed. Leaders of the opposition INDIA bloc parties, including the AAP and its chief Arvind Kejriwal, should clear their stand on Udhayanidhi Stalin's remarks, Sachdeva said. With his statement, Udhyanidhi Stalin tried to do what even foreign invaders failed to do in hundreds of years, Sachdeva said, adding that he delivered a "hate speech against 100 crore Sanatan Dharmi Indians".

"We have submitted this letter to the Tamil Nadu chief minister, asking for an immediate apology from his son and minister Udhyanidhi Stalin for his immoral statement, violating Constitutional propriety too," Sachdeva said. The Tamil Nadu chief minister is a close "political ally" of AAP chief Kejriwal and his "silence" on the issue is pinching. He should come forward and "condemn" Udhyanidhi Stalin's call to eradicate Sanatan Dharma, he added. The DMK and the AAP are partners in the opposition INDIA bloc.