Tamil Nadu Minister and DMK leader Udhayanidhi Stalin on Thursday said he will face all the cases filed against him legally over his controversisal remarks on sanatana dharma. Stalin accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders of "twisting" his statements. He attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying he was "globe-trotting" and was afraid of facing questions over the Manipur violence.

He said, "Thiru Modi and co are using the Sanatana ploy to divert the attention from the facts including the killing of more than 250 people in the riots incited in Manipur and the Rs 7.5 lakh crore."

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He accused the BJP of making empty promises in its nine-year tenure and said the entire country was questioning the saffron party on this. "It is in this background that the BJP leaders have twisted my speech at the TNPWAA conference as 'inciting genocide'. They consider it a weapon to protect themselves," he said.

Stalin stoked a controversy as he had likened Sanatana Dharma to coronavirus, malaria and dengue and had said such things should not be opposed but destroyed. "What is the meaning of Sanatan? It is eternal, that is, it cannot be changed; no one could pose any question and that is the meaning." Sanatan divided people on the basis of caste, he reportedly said.

He was one of the political heirs of Dravidian stalwart, the late CN Annadurai, the founder of the DMK. "Everyone knows that we are not enemies of any religion," he said adding that his party respects all religions that teach all lives are born equal.

With inputs from PTI

First Published:Sept 7, 2023 1:08 PM IST