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‘Mega mall of hate’: BJP’s JP Nadda stings Congress over TN minister’s video
The BJP seized on Tamil Nadu minister K Ponmudi’s remarks that the INDIA bloc was formed to oppose Sanatan ideology to hit out at the opposition.
NEW DELHI: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief JP Nadda on Tuesday renewed his party’s attacks on the opposition bloc, Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA), saying the continuous attacks on the Sanatana Dharma were “part of a well-thought-out strategy of the Congress” and its leaders, Sonia Gandhi and Rahul.
“The Congress and the INDI Alliance should make their view clear and tell if the Constitution gives the right to make objectionable comments against any religion? Do INDI Alliance members not know the constitutional provisions,” Nadda said on X, formerly Twitter.
He also asked the alliance, the Congress and Sonia and Rahul Gandhi to explain why “hate against Sanatana Dharma is being sold in the name of mohabbat ki dukan. This mega mall of hate is only for power; divide and rule”.
Also Read: Making sense of Dravidian assertion 2.0
Nadda’s offensive against the opposition block came hours after a video clip emerged in which Tamil Nadu minister K Ponmudi appeared to claim that the opposition bloc, INDIA, was formed to oppose the Sanatana Dharma and that all parties in the alliance were on the same page on this. HT cannot verify the authenticity of the video. There has been no comment from the DMK so far on Ponmudi’s reported comment.
Former minister and BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad said Ponmudi’s statement had clarified what the Opposition really thought.
“INDIA group was been formed to oppose and finish Sanatana Dharma. I ask the Congress and this alliance - Do they have the right to criticise deities of other faiths? Do they have the courage? Can they do it? They stay silent on other religions but openly oppose Sanatana,” Prasad said at a media conference.
“The BJP will urge this alliance to come out with a categorical resolution that we completely disassociate ourselves (from DMK’s criticism) and this is not our agenda,” he said.
Two constituents of the INDIA grouping, the Congress and the Shiv Sena (UBT), have struck a cautious note on the row that erupted on September 2 when Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) leader Udhayanidhi Stalin’s controversial said that the sanatana dharma wa “against social justice and equality” and should hence be “eradicated”, triggering a controversy.
Tamil Nadu chief minister MK Stalin later defended his son, saying that Udhayanidhi “expressed his views on sanatan principles that discriminate against scheduled castes, tribals and women, with no intention to offend any religion or religious beliefs.”
“The social media mob nurtured by the BJP has widely circulated...falsehood in northern states”.
