Madras High Court Rejects Petition Targeting Udhayanidhi Stalin's Sanatana Remarks

Days after the Supreme Court pulled him for his remarks on Sanatana Dharma, DMK minister Udhayanidhi Stalin today got some relief from Madras High Court. The court today dismissed a petition, which had challenged the continuation of Mr Stalin and two other DMK leaders as legislators. The high court observed that Mr Stalin's remarks were "wrong", but noted that he has not been convicted by any court yet.

Udhayanidhi Stalin, son of Tamil Nadu chief minister and DMK chief MK Stalin, had sparked a massive controversy in September 2023 after he compared Sanatana Dharma with dengue, malaria and said Sanatana Dharma should be eradicated. While participating in an event, Udhayanidhi said, “There are some things that we have to eradicate and we can’t merely oppose. Mosquitoes, dengue, corona and malaria are things that we cannot oppose, we have to eradicate them. Sanatanam is also like this. Eradication and not opposing Sanatanam has to be our first task.” However, Udhayanidhi reiterated that he would say the same thing about Sanatana Dharma while his stance on Hindu religion is not that of hatred. Udhayanidhi clarified that his comment was against caste-based society which is Sanatana, and not against the Hindu religion. Several leaders and people strongly criticised the DMK leader for making such a statement and even asked for an apology from the INDIA bloc as DMK part is a member of the INDIA alliance. The remarks also led to several criminal complaints being filed against him.