Days after the Supreme Court pulled him for his remarks on Sanatana Dharma, DMK minister Udhayanidhi Stalin today got some relief from Madras High Court. The court today dismissed a petition, which had challenged the continuation of Mr Stalin and two other DMK leaders as legislators.
The high court observed that Mr Stalin's remarks were "wrong", but noted that he has not been convicted by any court yet.
The 46-year-old DMK leader, who is the son of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin, had made the controversial remarks on Sanatana Dharma last September. The remarks, in which he said "Sanatana is like malaria and dengue and must be eradicated", had sparked a massive row.
Besides Udhayanidhi Stalin, the petitioners had sought removal of state minister PK Sekar Babu and DMK MP A Raja from the Assembly. While Mr Babu was present when Udhayanidhi made the remark, Mr Raja had endorsed what he said.
Doubling down on his remarks, Mr Stalin has said he had targeted caste-based discrimination and not Hinduism. He has also said he is prepared to face legal action, but he stands by his remarks.
P Wilson, DMK MP and counsel for Udhayanidhi Stalin, told NDTV, "It is a big victory. The BJP distorted the speech. It was not against Hindu religion but only against caste discrimination and caste hegemony," he said.
The row over his statement prompted police cases in several states of the country. The DMK leader has now approached the Supreme Court with the request that the multiple FIRs be clubbed into one.
The top court has responded sternly. A bench of Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Dipankar Datta pulled him up, saying that as a minister, he should be aware of the consequences of his words.
"You abuse your right under Article 19(1)(a) (of the Constitution). You abuse your right under Article 25. Now you are exercising your right under Article 32 (to file plea in the Supreme Court)? Do you not know the consequences of what you said? You are not a layman. You are a minister. You should know the consequences," the Supreme Court said Monday.