Every Party Is Free To Express Their Opinion: KC Venugopal Says Amid 'Sanatana Dharma' Controversy

The Congress Party on Monday while reacting to DMK leader Uthayanidhi Stalin's remarks on 'Sanatana Dharma' said that every political party has freedom to express their views.

While addressing the press conference in the national capital, Congress leader KC Venugopal stated that the Congress respects all religion, however, it believes that every political party has the freedom to give their opinions.

"Every political party has the freedom to (express) their views. We respect everybody's beliefs... our view is clear... 'Sarva Dharma Samabhava' is the Congress ideology," Venugopal was quoted saying this to the media.

Remarks from the Congress party comes after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) alleged that the Congress Party is against Hinduism and wants to abolish Hindutva.

Earlier on Sunday, Union Minister Amit Shah alleged that the Congress Party hates Hinduism. He further claimed that the remarks by Udhayanidhi Stalin are part of INDIA bloc's "vote bank politics" and "appeasement" tactic.

On the other hand, Union Minister Nirmala Sitharaman shared an old video on the social media that shows Congress chief KS Alagiri talking about destruction of the Sanatana Dharma. The video posted on platform X, formerly Twitter shows the Alagiri saying the purpose of the alliance in the state is to destroy Sanatana Dharma and the BJP.

However, Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK) chief Thol. Thirumavalavan said Udhyanidhi defended Stalin by saying that the latter tried to revive Dr. BR Ambedkar's ideology of equality. He further said that the DMK leader was not against Hindus but against 'Hindutva'.

"Dr BR Ambedkar says 'Sanatana Dharma' or Hindu Dharma, is a contagious disease. It should be eradicated and annihilated in future. Then only we can attain equality among the people. So Minister Udhayanidhi spoke about the ideology of Periyar, the ideology of Ambedkar, ideology of equality. So this is not against the Hindu community," Thirumavalavan told the news agency ANI.

Meanwhile, Congress MP Karti Chidambaram defended Stalin by saying that Sanatan Dharma in the common discourse of Tamil Nadu meant caste-based society and nothing else. Sanatana means nothing should be changed and all are permanent. But the Dravida model calls for change and all should be equal. However, BJP is manipulating and spreading fake news.