I started using Sanatana Dharma to stop Sangh Parivar groups from twisting my words as an attack on Hindu beliefs: Thirumavalavan

Thol. Thirumavalavan has been using the term "Sanatana Dharma" to criticize Hindutva and Sangh Parivar politics for the past five years. He believes it sidesteps the problem of being painted as anti-Hindu. He argues that Sanatana Dharma is the basic concept of Aryan religion, with inequality at its core, while Hinduism is a set of beliefs and Hindutva is a political ideology. He believes the RSS wants to rename India as Hindu Rashtra and declare Hinduism as the State religion.

While Sports Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin’s recent comments about “eradicating Sanatana Dharma” have snowballed into a political controversy, it was VCK founder Thol. Thirumavalavan who had enshrined Sanatana Dharma in the lexicon of Tamil Nadu’s political discourse over the past five years.

In 2019, just before the Lok Sabha election, Mr. Thirumavalavan organised the ‘Save Nation’ conference against ‘Sanatana forces’ in Tiruchi, which was attended, among others, by DMK leader and incumbent Chief Minister M.K. Stalin. While he had attacked Hindutva and Sangh Parivar politics in the past, Mr. Thirumavalavan said he chose the term ‘Sanatana Dharma’ to sidestep the problem of being painted as anti-Hindu.

“I have been speaking against Sanatana Dharma for the past 30 years. But the use of the term in political discourse began only in the public rally in Tiruchi before the 2019 Lok Sabha election. Before that, it was widely debated, discussed, and used in seminars and academic spaces. Throughout my political career I have spoken about this,” he told The Hindu on Tuesday.

“When we criticise and attack Hindutva, they [BJP, RSS and Sangh Parivar] twist it to mean that we are speaking against ordinary Hindus, who merely have religious belief in Hindu Gods and Puranas,” he said.

Explaining the context in which he invokes the term Sanatana Dharma, Mr. Thirumavalavan said, “Ambedkar and Periyar [E.V. Ramasamy] used Brahminism instead of Sanatanam. It is not for the Hindu community as a whole. Vedic religion is meant for Brahmins only and perhaps extends to Kshatriyas and Vaishyas. It is not meant for Shudras and other Avarnas [Those who do not fall under the four Varnas]. No Brahmin claims that it is Brahminism. They call it Sanatana Dharma.”

Mr. Thirumavalavan recalled Dr. Ambedkar’s claim that Varnashrama Dharma is a combination of Ashrama Dharma and Varna Dharma.

“This Varnashrama Dharma, which combines the two, was later codified as Manu Smriti. It is claimed that Sanatana Dharma has been around for much longer than Varnashrama Dharma. Christianity, Islam and Buddhism began with Jesus, Prophet Muhammed and Buddha. But Sanatana Dharma has no founder and we cannot pinpoint the year or period in which it was founded. It has been around for a long time, and that is why it is being called an eternal religion,” he said.