Tamil Nadu governor hails ‘Sanatana Dharma’, DMK criticises him

Chennai: Tamil Nadu Governor R N Ravi attracted criticism from the ruling DMK on Sunday for having hailed the ‘Sanatana Dharma’. Disapproving of his purported statement, DMK treasurer T R Baalu in a statement said such comments by the Governor do not augur well for the constitutional post he holds.

Participating in an event on Saturday, Ravi reportedly had remarked, “It is Sanatana Dharma which had built this Bharat” and made certain references to America bombing Kandahar.

However, the DMK said the comments on Sanatana Dharma was in contravention of the Indian Constitution, which preached equality before law and was against the 90 per cent of Indian population, which did not believe in Sanatana Dharma.

“Who is the Governor trying to guide,” Baalu asked adding that the Governor was attempting to tear down the founding principles of the Constitution. “The Santana Dharma propagates separates rules for each community whereas the Constitution swears by the principle that everyone is equal before law,” he said.

“A person who should propagate secular principles is acting in favour of a particular community and is advancing comments against other communities and is in fact instigating violence against them in a public forum,” he charged.

“There is a suspicion that the Governor was making such statements specifically to cause fear in Tamil Nadu,” he claimed.

At the time of filing this report, the Tamil Nadu Raj Bhavan was yet to react to Baalu’s statement.