NewzVille Desk
The BJP on Wednesday demanded the removal of Tamil Nadu Deputy Chief Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin and filing of a case against him for “hate speech against Hindus” after the Madras High Court quashed an FIR against BJP leader Amit Malviya for alleged “distortion” of the DMK leader’s remarks on ‘Sanatana Dharma’.
The Madras High Court observed that Udhayanidhi Stalin’s remarks “would clearly indicate it is totally against 80 per cent Hindus, which comes within the mischief of hate speech”, as it quashed the FIR registered in 2023 by Tiruchi city police against Malviya.
Justice S Srimathy in the Tuesday judgement said, “This court, with pain, records the prevailing situation that the person who initiates the hate speech is let scot-free, but the persons who reacted for the hate speech are facing the wrath of the law.”
Senior BJP leader and Union minister Piyush Goyal termed the decision by the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court a “strong rebuke” to the “narrow and anti-Hindu mindset” of the DMK ruling Tamil Nadu.
It is also a “setback” to the opposition INDIA bloc’s “anti-Hindu ideology”, he added.
“The Hon’ble High Court has clearly held that questioning or responding to Udhayanidhi Stalin’s hate speech is not a criminal offence and that the FIR was an abuse of the legal process,” Goyal, BJP in-charge for upcoming assembly polls in Tamil Nadu, said in a post on X.
“Justice has prevailed,” he said, Truth cannot be put on trial, nor can the DMK’s political vendetta destroy a “civilisational faith”, the BJP leader added.
“Satyameva Jayate (Truth alone triumphs),” BJP national spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla told in a press conference at the party headquarters, reacting to the high court’s order.
Poonwalla alleged that the DMK government had got an FIR registered against Malviya, who is also the BJP’s IT department in-charge, only to “push and penalise” him for speaking out the truth in a post on X following Udhayanidhi Stalin’s remarks.
“After the high court’s reprimand, there is no justification for Udhayanidhi Stalin to remain in his position. He should be immediately removed (from Deputy CM post) and a case should be filed against him for what has been called as hate speech against 80 per cent of the population of this country, that is, the Hindu community,” the BJP spokesperson said.
Udhayanidhi, son of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin, had kicked up a political row with his remarks that ‘Sanatan Dharma’ is against equality and social justice, and that it should be eradicated.
He had also likened ‘Sanatan Dharma’ to coronavirus, malaria, and fever caused by dengue virus and mosquito, and said such things should not be opposed but destroyed.
Reacting to Udhayanidhi Stalin’s comments, Malviya had lambasted the DMK leader, accusing him of calling for the genocide of 80 per cent of people who follow Sanatan Dharma.
The minister had clarified through a social media post that he “never called for genocide”. The petitioner (Malviya) intentionally misrepresented the deputy CM’s remarks to foment animosity among various segments of society, according to the complainant, Tiruchirappalli-based DMK office-bearer KAV Thinakaran.
The Tamil Nadu police then filed the FIR under various sections of the erstwhile Indian Penal Code (IPC) against the BJP leader.
