Opinion: Stalin versus Sanatan – Dravidian politics tread an ominous path
By Kaushal Kishore*
The Supreme Court has sent a notice to Udhayanidhi Stalin on the Sanatan Dharma row that started last month in Chennai and soon spread all over. This son of the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu M.K. Stalin is also holding the portfolio of Youth Welfare and Sports Development in his government. The apex court has annexed a couple of cases to minimise the multiplicity of business. However, this politics of animosity and hatred has currently been kept out of the scope of hate speech. On this issue, at least 40 cases have been pending in the High Courts of different states.
This is an outcome of the old conspiracy to distort the definition of Sanatan (eternal). Since September 2, 2023, the rhetoric has been going on in favour and opposition of this politics, and the trend is not going to stop making it rather serious to create a background before the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. This attempt to polarise the electorate started on the southern coast, and its effects are everywhere now.
Progressive writers and artists of Tamil Nadu rendered the stage at the Kamarajar Arena in Chennai. Udhayanidhi Stalin addressed it and said, “The title of this conference is very good. Instead of the ‘Anti-Sanatan conference’, you have organised the ‘Sanatan abolition conference’. My congratulations on this. We have to finish certain things. We cannot oppose it. We should not oppose mosquitoes, dengue fever, malaria, coronavirus etc. We should eradicate it. Sanatan Dharma is also like this.”
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah countered it even before the hearing of the cases began in the top court. The leaders of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance have been criticising it. BJP workers have taken it to the streets. But the Opposition is not united on this issue today. The Congress leader from Tamil Nadu Karthik Chidambaram has said that there is nothing wrong with what Udhayanidhi Stalin has said. Rajya Sabha MP from Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Raghav Chadda has referred to himself as a Sanatani before rejecting it as a version of the Opposition block INDIA. As such the Opposition alliance appears to be divided, but the ruling alliance is united against it.
Soon after the alliance was tied in Bengaluru, the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister wrote a letter to the Prime Minister. The Dravida Munnetra Kazagham (DMK) parliamentarians had also raised the issue of returning the Katchatheevu island when the Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe was visiting India. Political pundits used the phrase ‘Quit INDIA’ to interpret it. The second largest partner in the Congress-led alliance gives rise to the fear of its break. It’s possible that Udhayanidhi Stalin is repeating such things in order to get rid of this crisis.
The DMK government of Tamil Nadu is trying to break its own people instead of uniting them in the name of modernity only to fulfil political interests. The seeds of disharmony are being sown under the guise of social justice and to eradicate the evils. Isn’t the disdain of Sanatan for advocating equality and justice an indication of a distorted mentality? DMK leaders have been hurting the sentiments of the majority throughout the country. At the same time, hasn’t the shallowness of their understanding been exposed?
Udhayanidhi accepted the fact that ‘Sanatan’ is a Sanskrit word that refers to ‘eternal’ in front of the Tamil Nadu Progressive Writers and Artists Association. At the same time, he distorted its truth while explaining the term. In fact, Sanatan and Dharma are synonyms referring to the universal truths. Can they be abolished? The Sanatan or Dharma has been continuing since time immemorial, and it will remain so in the future too.
There is no need to create hue and cry over this issue. It’s not going to be eradicated by a Udhayanidhi Stalin. In the true sense, it brought the Western culture of doing to the ground of being. In this civilisation of interdependence, an eternal formula is found, ‘Yat Pinde Tat Brahmande’ that contains the wisdom of the natural unity, and making a comment on it without understanding the instrumental and material causes proves to be an unauthoritative attempt.
Humanity is the truth of this eternal and universal Dharma. This is constant. It’s not defined by the distortions that arise among its proponents. In essence, both the terms Dharma and Sanatan denote the state beyond eradication. Gravity is the Dharma of the Earth. This is also constant and eternal. As such it is true. This is not going to change by any distorted interpretation of Sanatan and Dharma by any sect. On the other hand, the success of a sect depends only on the presence of eternal elements present in it.
Dravidian politics started in Tamil Nadu with Erode Venkata Ramasamy Periyar in the 20th century. Politics of upliftment of the Dalits against the misery of castes and inequality. Babasaheb Ambedkar also tried to remove these evils of castes and inequality during the same period. They failed to achieve success on account of the bitterness and hatred dominating all these welfare works pertaining to social reform. It has further confined the efforts of uplifting Indian society from the pit of degradation and slavery to anti-Hindutva and anti-Sanatan politics. The progress of social reform can be meaningful only after abandoning this bitterness and hatred. In the absence of true identification of the disease, its treatment is next to impossible.
Today Udhayanidhi Stalin and his party are certainly doing politics based on similar bitterness and hatred. Is it not the result of their continuous efforts to hurt the majority of India? The DMK leaders may try to remove the evils not only of the Dravidian community but of the entire Indian society. In fact, uplifting the fallen society is a service to the humanity. There is no need to hurt the followers of any Dharma while doing such noble work.
The politics of animosity and hatred have proved to be an easy means of gaining cheap popularity. The upcoming Lok Sabha elections are also at the root of such rhetoric. A division bench of the top court refused to consider this animosity steeped in bitterness and malice as hate speech. This is a question of whether the court would prove helpful in taking forward the programme of social reform by removing that bitterness and hatred. The answer rests in the womb of the future. Meanwhile, the goddess of justice is busy weighing truth and facts while holding the balance in her hands, however, these two are not the same. The goddess of justice is also blindfolded, and the voices of hatred are not able to create any impact even after echoing in her ears. This is neither good for the country nor its societies. Still, it does not mean the abolition of Sanatan or the Dharma.
*Author of The Holy Ganga (Rupa 2008) and Honourary Secretary, Srishti Sustainable Development Foundation. Views published are personal.
