Published Dec 07, 2023 | 11:22 AM ⚊ Updated Dec 07, 2023 | 11:22 AM
Rajeev Chandrashekar. (X)
The BJP has asked if DMK chief MK Stalin has asked party leaders who had spoken against Sanatana Dharma to also apologise after MP DNV Senthilkumar expressed regret in the Lok Sabha for referring to the Hindi heartland states in a derogatory manner in the House.
Addressing a press conference at the BJP headquarters in New Delhi, Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar also slammed the “silence” of Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on the “repeated objectionable remarks about Sanatana”.
The minister said, “I heard Mr TR Baalu say today that Chief Minister Stalin has told MP Senthilkumar to not make such statements. But there is a question that has to be asked to Mr Baalu and (MK) Stalin.”
“What about Udhyanidhi Stalin’s statement? Has he (MK Stalin) advised Udhayanidhi Stalin to apologise? What about A Raja? Has he (DMK chief) advised A Raja to apologise?” the BJP leader said.
“Why can’t Stalin apologise?” he said.
“Picking one MP and selectively instructing that MP (to apologise for his remarks) while leaving his son at large to spew hatred against a particular community in violation of the Constitution and all that we hold dear in India, is hardly an apology,” the minister said.
Chandrasekhar alleged that the Opposition INDIA bloc parties have started a “new chapter of divisive politics” with North-South divide remarks as their efforts to drive a wedge on religious lines for votes did not work in the just-concluded Assembly polls.
The BJP will “firmly oppose” such politics played by the Congress and other members of the “INDI Alliance”, Chandrasekhar said.
“People of the country will also totally oppose such politics and expose them,” he said at a press conference at the BJP headquarters.
Senthilkumar had on Tuesday, 5 December, used a pejorative to describe Hindi heartland states while attacking the ruling BJP in Lok Sabha. The comments led to a ruckus and adjournment of proceedings and Speaker Om Birla directed that they be expunged.
BJP leaders had decried his remarks as “hate speech” and said the voters would “wipe out” the INDIA bloc from southern India as well in the next elections.
Facing flak, the DMK MP had later apologised.
“Commenting on the results of the five recent state assembly elections, I have used a word in an inappropriate way. Not using that term with any intent, I apologise for sending the wrong meaning across,” Senthilkumar said in a post on X.
On Wednesday, he expressed regret in Lok Sabha but the BJP stepped up its attack on the INDIA bloc.
Chandrasekhar said, “After three state results, a new chapter of divisive politics has been started by the Congress and Indi Alliance’.
“First they play divisive politics on the lines of religion. Their (Congress) ally Udhayanidhi Stalin says Sanatana is dengue and malaria. Then the DMK’s 2G scam architect and visionary A Raja says Sanatana Dharma is equal to leprosy, HIV.”
“This is the same Congress and INDI Alliance that have sung so much praise for the Congress’s Bharat Jodo Yatra. And this party’s 55-year old young, maturing leader who goes abroad on vacation and says India’s Constitution and democracy are under threat,” he charged.
The “INDI Alliance members are openly normalising” terrorism” for appeasement politics, he alleged.
During the elections, the row over some DMK leaders’ remarks against Sanatan Dharma had been latched on by the BJP to target the Congress.
“After all these failed, they started the north-south divide strategy yesterday. Rahul Gandhi’s new cronies started north and south (divide) and BJP-mukt south (narrative).
And, such foolishness (when) the BJP has its MLAs and MPs in the south,” the minister said.
“We will firmly oppose it. And people of the country will totally oppose such politics and expose them,” he said.
(Disclaimer: The headline, subheads, and intro of this report along with the photos may have been reworked by South First. The rest of the content is from a syndicated feed, and has been edited for style.)
