New Delhi [India], March 24 : Writer and journalist Swaminathan Gurumurthy, who is Editor of Thuglak magazine, has said that people of Tamil Nadu are deeply rooted in Sanatana Dharma and if someone speaks against it, people in the state laugh at them.
In an interview with ANI, Gurumurthy also took potshots at DMK leader and Tamil Nadu Deputy Chief Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin's earlier comments about Santana Dharma.
"Sanatana Dharma is the ruling social milieu. So, if somebody speaks against the Sanatana Dharma, the Tamil Nadu people only laugh at them. Only in the north, people get perturbed. We all laugh at them. Because they go to temples, they do yajna. So, it is part of the political dishonesty of the DMK, just as it plays between the Dravidian and Tamil politics, the fraudulent civilizational politics...," Gurumurthy said.
He said Sanatana Dharma is stated in the Thirukkural and is mentioned in the Tamil Sangam literature.
"Sanatana Dharma has been spoken of as the tradition. Advaita is integral to it. I have written that I challenged people to dispute me. There is so much illiteracy going around. Because people do not even read more than two pages today..they cannot hear more than five minutes of a podcast...," he said.
"From the outside, if you look at Tamil, even in Tamil Nadu, there is so much ignorance. You all suffer from such illiteracy about Tamil Nadu, Tamil, and Tamil culture....Tolkappiyam says there are four Varnas in Tamil Nadu. Arasar, Andanar, Vanigar, Vellalar...It's entirely there in Tamil literature. So today, the discourse that is taking place is based on what Udhayanidhi speaks. He neither knows this. And we are making him the authority. And of course, somebody like Kartik Chidambaram, who may be good in law, and he must confine himself to that," Gurumurthy added.
The Madras High Court had in January this year quashed the FIR registered against BJP leader Malviya for allegedly distorting the comments made by Udhayanidhi Stalin on "Sanatana Dharma"
Congress had distanced itself from Udhayanidhi's remarks made in September 2023 relating to Sanatana Dharma and said no one can treat any particular faith or religion less than another.