Rajya Sabha: BJP MP asks TN govt to register FIR, sack ministers for 'hate speech' against Sanatan Dharma

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BJP Rajya Sabha member GVL Narasimha Rao on Tuesday accused Tamil Nadu ministers of making "hate" speeches against Sanatan Dharma and Hindu religion and asked the state government to register a case against them.

The Constitution allows every religion, every member and every sect to practice their faith and even propagate it, he said, and demanded the sacking of the state ministers for their objectionable remarks.

Raising the issue during the Zero Hour in the Upper House, Rao said that a minister in the Tamil Nadu government indulged in hate speech against Sanatan Dharma and the Hindu religion.

"I quote what he said, 'Sanatan Dharma is like malaria, and dengue, and so it must be eradicated and not opposed'," the BJP member said without naming anyone.

Another minister in the same state government has mentioned that the purpose of the formation of the INDIA alliance is " the eradication of Sanatana Dharma", the BJP member alleged, and wondered whether they wanted to pursue "this kind of anti-India agenda".

Rao claimed that another minister in the Karnataka government, who is the son of the Congress President and Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha, had supported those comments.

"This is the agenda of the INDIA alliance," he said, adding that such statements constitute "hate speech".

According to the BJP MP, these statements are deliberate and malafide acts intended to outrage religious sentiments, and there was also an attempt to create public mischief.

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"Therefore I call upon the state government, Tamil Nadu, to on its own, register FIR against the same ministers who spoke against Sanatana Dharma and also dismiss these ministers from the state government because what they have, what they have publicly stated, is the violation of the oath they have taken under the Constitution," he said.

He said it was a matter of regret that there are ministers in the state government who are campaigning against Sanatan Dharma and calling for its eradication.