Sanatana Dharma row | BJP using this as a weapon to protect itself and avoid facing questions on political failures: T.N. Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin
The Hindu
Udhayanidhi Stalin accuses BJP of twisting his speech on Sanatana Dharma; alleges PM Modi & Ministers using row to divert attention from issues like Manipur riots & financial irregularities. He claims to be heir of Perarignar Anna, not enemy of any religion. Urges comrades to focus on party work instead of filing cases against seer. Thanks TNPWAA for making Sanatana Dharma a national talking point.
Accusing the the BJP leaders of twisting his speech that included remarks on Sanatana Dharma, made at a Tamil Nadu Progressive Writers and Artistes Association (TNPWAA) conference, DMK youth wing leader and Minister for Youth Welfare and Sports Development, Udayanidhi Stalin, on Thursday, said Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Cabinet colleagues were using the political row that has since erupted over his remarks, as a weapon to protect themselves.
“They consider this row a weapon to protect themselves with. What is surprising is that Union Ministers including Amit Shah and Chief Minister of States ruled by the BJP are also demanding action against me based on fake news,” the Minister said, in a statement issued on Thursday.
“Afraid of having to face questions about [violence-hit] Manipur in India, the PM is globe- trotting along with his friend [industrialist Gautam] Adani. The fact is, the ignorance of the people is the capital of their theatrical politics,” he said in a statement.
Mr. Udhayanidhi also alleged that PM Modi and his Ministers were using the row to divert the attention from facts such as the the killing of more than 250 people in the riots in Manipur and the 7.5 lakh crore financial irregularities pointed out by the CAG in its report.
He said in all fairness, he should be the one filing criminal cases and other court cases against the various BJP leader for having spreading slander. “But I am aware that this is their mode of survival. They don’t know how else to survive, so I decided not to do that [file police cases],” he added.
Mr Udhayanidhi said he was one of the political heirs of Perarignar Anna [C.N. Annadurai], the founder of the DMK and everyone knows that “we are not the enemies of any religion.”
“Writing, in general, is a very solitary process,” says Yauvanika Chopra, Associate Director at The New India Foundation (NIF), which, earlier this year, announced the 12th edition of its NIF Book Fellowships for research and scholarship about Indian history after Independence. While authors, in general, are built for it, it can still get very lonely, says Chopra, pointing out that the fellowship’s community support is as valuable as the monetary benefits it offers. “There is a solid community of NIF fellows, trustees, language experts, jury members, all of whom are incredibly competent,” she says. “They really help make authors feel supported from manuscript to publication, so you never feel like you’re struggling through isolation.”
Several principals of government and private schools in Delhi on Tuesday said the Directorate of Education (DoE) circular from a day earlier, directing schools to conduct classes in ‘hybrid’ mode, had caused confusion regarding day-to-day operations as they did not know how many students would return to school from Wednesday and how would teachers instruct in two modes — online and in person — at once. The DoE circular on Monday had also stated that the option to “exercise online mode of education, wherever available, shall vest with the students and their guardians”. Several schoolteachers also expressed confusion regarding the DoE order. A government schoolteacher said he was unsure of how to cope with the resumption of physical classes, given that the order directing government offices to ensure that 50% of the employees work from home is still in place. On Monday, the Commission for Air Quality Management in the National Capital Region and Adjoining Areas (CAQM) had, on the orders of the Supreme Court, directed schools in Delhi-NCR to shift classes to the hybrid mode, following which the DoE had issued the circular. The court had urged the Centre’s pollution watchdog to consider restarting physical classes due to many students missing out on the mid-day meals and lacking the necessary means to attend classes online. The CAQM had, on November 20, asked schools in Delhi-NCR to shift to the online mode of teaching.