Chennai: Udhayanidhi Stalin, DMK leader and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin’s son has called for the ‘eradication of Sanatan Dharma’, triggering a massive outrage on social media. Reposting some of those responses, Udaynidhi wrote on X that he would not flinch and was ready to ‘confront any challenges that come my way, whether in a court of law or the people's court’.

The DMK leader compared the religion with COVID-19, Dengue, and Malaria by mosquitoes, saying that it is the cause of many social evils.

Several social media users and BJP leaders have slammed Stalin’s declaration to ‘uproot’ Sanatan Dharma.

BJP in charge of information and IT head Amit Malviya pointed out that Udhayanidhi Stalin was not asking to just oppose Sanatan Dharma but was actually calling for its eradication, which he said amounted to a call for ‘genocide of 80% population of Bharat, who follow Sanatan Dharma’.

“Udhayanidhi Stalin, son of Tamilnadu CM MK Stalin, and a minister in the DMK Govt, has linked Sanatana Dharma to malaria and dengue… He is of the opinion that it must be eradicated and not merely opposed. In short, he is calling for genocide of 80% population of Bharat, who follow Sanatan Dharma. DMK is a prominent member of the Opposition block and a long standing ally of the Congress. Is this what was agreed in the Mumbai meet?” Amit Malviya wrote on X.

Responding to Malviya's tweet, Stalin wrote: "I never called for the genocide of people who are following Sanatans Dharma. Sanatana Dharma is a principle that divides people in the name of caste and religion. Uprooting Sanatana Dharma is upholding humanity and human equality. I stand firmly by every word I have spoken. I spoke on behalf of the oppressed and marginalized, who suffer due to the Sanatana Dharma.

Denouncing Stalin’s remarks, IT minister for state Rajeev Chandrasekhar wrote on X that the parties run by dynasties ‘are truly the parasites who for decades preyed on people’s vulnerabilities and sucked out our nations & people’s wealth.’

“As a cover for their corruption and parasitic behavior, they create narratives like ‘Protecting Dravidian Land’ & abuse Hindu faith. The only thing they protect is their own wealth & politics,” he wrote.

Following Stalin’s remark and his repeated dares to ‘bring it on’ many users termed his call for eradication of the Hindu religion as ‘hate speech’ and demanded action. Some of them asked if he would have dared to say the same thing about other religions.

Meanwhile, Amit Malviya questioned Congress’s silence over Udhayanidhi Stalin’s speech, whose party is a Congress ally and part of opposition bloc I.N.D.I.A created to unseat the BJP-led government at the Centre in 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

"Rahul Gandhi speaks of 'mohabbat ki dukaan' but Congress ally DMK's scion talks about eradicating Sanatana Dharma. Congress's silence is support for this genocidal call. INDIA Alliance, true to its name, if given an opportunity, will annihilate the millennia-old civilisation that is Bharat," BJP's Amit Malviya posted on X, formerly known as Twitter.

K Annamalai, the state president of the BJP, accused Udhayanidhi Stalin and Chief Minister MK Stalin, of resonating the ideas of Christian missionaries.

"The only resolve that the Gopalapuram Family has is to accumulate wealth beyond the State GDP. Thiru Udhayanidhi Stalin, you, your father, or his or your idealogue have a bought-out idea from Christian missionaries and the idea of those missionaries was to cultivate dimwits like you to parrot their malicious ideology," Annamalai wrote on X.

"Tamil Nadu is a land of spiritualism. The best you can do is to hold a Mic in an event like this and rant out your frustration!" he added.

News agency ANI reported that Congress has distanced itself from DMK leader's commnets. Congress leader Nana Patole said said that the Congress party respects all religions and does not want to make any comments that could hurt anyone's sentiments.

However, he did not categorically slam Udaynidhi Stalin's call to 'uproot Sanatan Dharma'.