'TNCC has no qualms backing Udhayanidhi Stalin'

CHENNAI: The Tamil Nadu unit of the Congress party has taken an independent stand and unequivocally supported DMK Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin on the Sanathana Dharma issue.

Unlike its rival BJP which has struck a chord with its national leadership, the TNCC, by and large, has sided with the ally DMK and publicly criticised the Sanathana Dharma, and that too when a few Congress leaders up north have expressed their reservations to Stalin junior's critique. While the BJP and its ilk were accusing the Congress national leadership of silently endorsing Udhayanidhi and exploiting it for electoral harvest in the north, state Congress President K S Alagiri has voluntarily defended the ally's statement and even elucidated his definition of the dharma.

As netizens interpreted Alagiri's defence of Udhayanidhi as being done at the behest of the AICC, the latter reasoned that his stand has a historic precedent. "Mahatma Gandhi was pious and god-fearing. His chief disciple Nehru was a non-believer. Even Gandhi was highly critical of the regressive ideas and superstitions in the Hindu religion. So, two divergent opinions existed even in the distant past."

"What is Sanathana Dharma? They (BJP) say it is constant and it endorses old practices? Sati, untouchability and discrimination against women are old practices. Sanathana Dharma endorses that. That is why we are opposing it," Alagiri said.

Asked if the AICC got in touch with them on the issue, he said, "No one from the high command communicated anything to us on the issue. I just started my views. The Congress party believes in religion and the existence of god. It does not believe in caste inequality. I have just stated that."

Significantly, Karnataka Minister Priyank Kharge, son of AICC president Mallikarjuna Kharge, was among the few voices that expressed solidarity with the DMK minister.