Udhayanidhi Stalin claims BJP twisting his statement on ‘Sanatan Dharma’

Chennai: Tamil Nadu Sports Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin on Thursday issued a letter clarifying his statements on 'Sanatan Dharma' and questioned the BJP leaders for twisting his speech as 'inciting genocide' and said that they are using it as a weapon to protect themselves. Stalin alleged that the BJP-led central government was twisting his speech delivered on September 2, and accused the centre for doing 'nothing' in the last nine years of their governance. “For the last 9 years, all your (BJP) promises are empty promises. What have you exactly done for our welfare?” is a question currently being raised in unison by the entire country against an unarmed, fascist BJP government," he said in his letter. "It is in this background that the BJP leaders have twisted my speech at the TNPWAA conference as ‘inciting genocide’. They consider it a weapon to protect themselves. What is surprising is the Ministers of the Union government like Thiru. Amit Shah and Chief Minister of states ruled by the BJP demanding action against me based on fake news," he added. “I am one of the political heirs of Perarignar Anna, the founder of the DMK. Everyone knows that we are not enemies of any religion,” he said in his letter. Udhyanidhi condemned the statements of Ayodhya Seer Paramhans Acharya for announcing a bounty of 10 crores for beheading his head and said that the saints in this era are in need of advertisement. "In this era, saints are in need of a lot of advertisements. One such saint has announced a bounty of 10 crores for my head. I am surprised that saint has 10 crores. Many have given police and judicial complaints against me," he said. Further, he requested the DMK cadres to not get involved in work that is a waste of time such as burning the effigy of the saint. "I heard DMK cadres in various places giving complaints against the saint who announced a bounty for my head and also protesting against that Saint by burning the effigy of the saint. I request cadres to avoid such activities. We have a lot of work to do for the benefit of people. With the guidance of the DMK President and by getting advice from the DMK headship and with the help of the legal department I will face all the cases against legally," he said. Meanwhile a delegation of Tamil Nadu BJP leaders led by state chief K Annamalai met Tamil Nadu Governor RN Ravi and submitted a petition to him calling for cases to registered against Stalin junior for alleged hate speech. Speaking to reporters BJP leader Karu Nagarajan said " If Udhayanidhi Stalin says he is to eradicate Sanatanam it means that he is calling for eradicating Hinduism. We gave the petition to the Governor requesting to sack Udhayanidhi Stalin from the cabinet for his remarks on Sanatanam. We also requested Governor R N Ravi to sack HR & CE Minister Sekar Babu as he also participated in the same program. (ANI)