Chennai : In a key development that intensifies the legal scrutiny facing Tamil Nadu Deputy Chief Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin, the Madras High Court on Wednesday. The Madurai Bench of the High Court said there had been a “clear attack on Hinduism” by the DMK over 100 years, noting that the minister belonged to the same ideological lineage. The court also recorded its concern that those who allegedly initiate hate speech often go unpunished.
While considering the overall circumstances, it is seen that the petitioner had questioned the hidden meaning of the Minister’s speech,” the High Court observed. It added, “This Court, with pain, records the prevailing situation that the persons who initiate hate speech are let scot-free, while those who react to such hate speech face the wrath of the law. The courts are questioning those who react, but are not setting the law in motion against the persons who initiated the hate speech”.
In September 2023, Udhayanidhi Stalin, the son of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin, triggered a nationwide controversy with his remarks on Sanatana Dharma. Speaking at a public event, he said, “Few things cannot be opposed, they should be abolished. We can’t oppose dengue, mosquitoes, malaria, or corona; we have to eradicate them. In the same way, we have to eradicate Sanatana, rather than opposing it.”
The Madras High Court, on Wednesday, clarified that the wording used by Udhayanidhi Stalin did, in fact, imply genocide and amounted to hate speech. If a group of people following Sanatana Dharma should not exist, the appropriate word is ‘genocide’. If Sanatana Dharma is considered a religion, it would amount to ‘religicide’. It also implies the eradication of people through any method or through various methods, including ecocide, factocide and culturicide (cultural genocide).
Udhayanidhi defended his remarks, saying he ‘stood firmly’ by them, while clarifying that his comments were not a call for the genocide of people who follow Sanatan Dharma. In January 2025, the Supreme Court declined to entertain three writ petitions seeking criminal action against Udhayanidhi in connection with the ‘Sanatana Dharma’ remarks.
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