Congress ex-minister P.Chidambaram who coined the term ‘saffron terrorism’ is back again with his anti-Hindu rant with an open call against Sanatana Dharma. After the Malegaon blasts, for which Sadhvi Pragya and Lt. Col. SP Purohit were arrested as part of an alleged conspiracy to prove that Hindu terrorism exists, the then Home minster of the UPA government coined the term ‘Saffron Terrorism’. Even though Hindus have been targeted and harassed since before independence, this specific incident and the coinage was picked up by the international media to paint Hindus as terrorists.
Now, the upcoming assembly elections of Tamil Nadu have been declared as a war between Sanatana Dharma and Tamils by the DMK-Congress alliance which also declared ‘Uprooting Sanatana Dharma’ as its war cry in 2019. But using a fork-tongued approach, DMK chief Stalin has been reiterating again and again in his campaign speeches that ‘DMK is not against Hindus’. But his ally Thirumavalavan, chief of Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Party, declared that this election is a ‘war against Sanatana Dharma’ and repeats the same in his campaign speeches too.
But it hasn’t reached the public widely as usage of Sanatana Dharma for Hindu Dharma (Hinduism) has almost gone out of fashion. Taking advantage of this, the anti-Hindu forces have called upon the minorities and so called rationalists of the state to abolish Hinduism. While no one dared to make this a main issue, Tejasvi Surya, Bengaluru South BJP MP, seems to have said, “We want to put an end to ‘Periyarism’ in Tamil Nadu”. However there is no credible source available for this remark except for a newspaper clipping which is being widely circulated in social media by Dravidianists and Periyarists.
Now, ex-minister Chidambaram, in the name of condemning Tejasvi’s remark, has tweeted from his account that Periyar fought and won against ‘Sanatana Dharma’ and ‘retrieved the dignity and culture of Tamils’. With this tweet he has joined the brigade of anti-Hindus like Tirumavalavan and Stalin who openly vowed to uproot Sanatana Dharma.
However, as he himself claims that Periyar ‘fought and won’ against the ‘toxic ideology’ called Sanatana Dharma, it begs the question what’s the need to eradicate it. It has invited condemnation and outrage from Hindus who have questioned whether Chidambaram has the guts to tweet the same in Hindi or English and whether he and his allies would be fine with a call for a war against Islam or Christianity along the same lines. The silence of Chidambaram’s bosses, i.e. the Nehru-Gandhi family clan, is also being questioned.
The 2021 assembly elections in TN have removed the masks of many politicians when it comes to Sanatana/Hindu Dharma. While DMK chief Stalin never forgets to say that his party isn’t anti-Hindu in almost all of his campaign speeches, he has given ticket to a most vile politician of his party to contest from Thousand Lights constituency in Chennai.
His ally Thirumavalavan openly talks of abolishing Sanatana Dharma. He has given ticket to a Muslim man who feels that Hindus worshipping Surya Bhagwan and Gau mata troubles Abrahamists. Now a politician from his national ally Congress has expressed the same desire albeit indirectly.
From Vel Yatra to promising in its manifesto to free temples from government control, BJP in TN has made Sanatana Dharma the talking point of this election. It would not be wrong to say that with such an attempt this election has brought the propaganda of Periyarists and Dravidianists, which was considered subtle and fringe, to the forefront.
(Featured Image Source: India Today)
Did you like this article? We’re a non-profit. Make a donation and help pay for our journalism.
HinduPost is now on Telegram. For the best reports & opinion on issues concerning Hindu society, subscribe to HinduPost on Telegram.