Amid the controversy surrounding Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan's alleged remarks against Sanatan Dharma, BJP leader V Muraleedharan on Thursday raised questions about the Congress party's stance on the matter, pointing out a contradiction within the Congress, as the Leader of Opposition in the Kerala Assembly disagreed with the Chief Minister's remarks, while the state Congress president supported them.
Muraleedharan stated that while Congress leader in Kerala and the Leader of Opposition opposed the Chief Minister's remarks about Sanatan Dharma and the term "saffronization," the state Congress president had endorsed the Chief Minister's statement that Sanatan Dharma represents a return to monarchy and casteism.
"Even while the Congress leader of Kerala and the Leader of Opposition in the state assembly disagrees with the Chief Minister's comments on Sanatan Dharma and opposes the term of saffronization, his own party president of Kerala has supported the statement of the Chief Minister that Sanatan Dharma is nothing but bringing back monarchy and bringing back casteism," Muraleedharan said.
The BJP leader asked for clarification on the Congress party's position for the top brass, emphasising that the Kerala Chief Minister's comments were damaging to Hindu philosophy.
"I would like to know what Congress stands on this. There is a huge issue that has come up in Kerala where the Chief Minister of the state has tried to malign the Hindu philosophy," he said.
Earlier on Tuesday, Vijayan, while addressing the Sivagiri Pilgrimage, stated that attempts to portray social reformer and saint Sree Narayana Guru as a proponent of Sanatana Dharma are nothing but the practice of caste-based Varnashrama Dharma.
"Sanatana Dharma is synonymous with or inseparable from Varnashrama Dharma, which is based on the Chaturvarna system. What does this Varnashrama Dharma uphold? It glorifies hereditary professions. But what did Sree Narayana Guru do? He called for defiance of hereditary professions. How, then, can Guru be an advocate of Sanatana Dharma?" the Kerala CM said.
"Guru's ascetic life was a constant questioning and defiance of the Chaturvarna system. How can someone who proclaimed, "One Caste, One Religion, One God for humankind," be an advocate of Sanatana Dharma, which is rooted in the confines of a single religion? Guru championed a dharma that opposed the caste system," Vijayan added.
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