Hardeep Puri slams A. Raja for Sanatan Dharma remarks

New Delhi, Sep 7 (IANS) Union Minister for Housing and Urban Affairs Hardeep Singh Puri on Thursday slammed DMK leader A. Raja for his alleged derogatory remarks against Sanatan Dharma, calling them "utterly disgusting".

Last Saturday, Tamil Nadu minister and DMK leader Udhayanidhi Stalin had triggered a controversy by saying: "Sanatan Dharma has to be eradicated just like malaria, dengue and Corona."

Going one step further, Raja said on Thursday that Sanatan Dharma should be compared to diseases carrying social stigma such as HIV and leprosy. He even said that his party colleague Udhayanidhi Stalin's comments on Sanatan Dharma were "soft".

“This is utterly disgusting. This kind of permanent brain damage is a possible outcome of when someone bitten by a dengue mosquito takes medicine for HIV. The virus of hate, which afflicts some, is clearly more dangerous than all the diseases they are coming up with put together,” Puri wrote on X (formerly twitter) in an apparent reference to the DMK MP’s remarks.

Taking a swipe at the Opposition bloc INDIA, Puri said, "Such outlandish statements with camouflaged calls for violence against ancient Sanatan Dharma should serve as a wake up call for all God-fearing Indians. These evil designs of 'Ghamandiya' alliance partners must be defeated. This politics of hate has no place in a civilised world."

"It is shameful that the battle of those afflicted by serious and life threatening illnesses like HIV, AIDS, dengue and Covid is being turned to a slur by some with damaged ideologies," the minister said.