Chennai: Slamming Udhayanidhi Stalin for his "eradicate Sanatana Dharma" remark, AIADMK on Thursday said the DMK leader mocked the beliefs of the majority for "diverting the attention" of Tamil Nadu people from the real issues.
"When there is a spiralling of prices of essential commodities and deterioration of law and order in Tamil Nadu, rather than addressing the day-to-day mundane issues of the people, talking about the beliefs of the majority and mocking it on an open platform clearly shows that is what they do. It is diverting the attention of Tamil Nadu people," AIADMK spokesperson Kovai Sathyan told ANI.
The AIADMK spokesperson said that now the DMK is in a damage control exercise over Udhayanidhi Stalin's remark.
"Now he (Udhayanidhi Stalin) boasts around that, and says 'See the entire nation is talking about me'...He is in a damage control exercise now. Coming to his rescue is this accused A Raja, who is a dynast slave. He wants to take the attention away from Udhayanidhi. Because they know it has not gone well with the people of this country," Sathyan said.
Railing against Sanatan Dharma at a conference in Chennai on September 2, Udhayanidhi said, "Few things cannot be opposed, they should only be abolished. We can't oppose Dengue, mosquitoes, Malaria, or Corona, 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."
Udhayanidhi's remark has sparked massive controversy across the nation. Several BJP leaders and Hindu priests have strongly criticised his statement.
Reacting to the remarks of the Udhayanidhi, Tamil Nadu BJP President K Annamalai took to X and said, "If something needs eradication from Tamil Nadu, it is the DMK. D - Dengue M - Malaria K - Kosu Going forward, we are sure that people will associate these deadly diseases with DMK."
Earlier, on Wednesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, chairing a meeting of the Council of Ministers, weighed in on the furore around Udhayanidhi's remarks, asking his ministers to aggressively counter the attack on Sanatan Dharma.
He advised his ministers to counter the Opposition's narrative on the Sanatan Dharma with facts.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)