Kamal Haasan backs Udhayanidhi Stalin, says minister being 'hounded' for remark on Sanatana Dharma
Coimbatore (PTI): Makkal Needhi Maiam chief Kamal Haasan on Friday said DMK leader and Tamil Nadu Youth Welfare Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin is being "hounded" for his remark on Sanatana Dharma.
Addressing a party meet here, Haasan, without naming Udhayanidhi, the BJP or any other outfit, said a "young child" is being targeted today as he had spoken about Sanatana Dharma.
Indicating that there is nothing new about the minister's remark on Sanatana Dharma, the actor implied that several leaders of the Dravidian movement such as Udhayanidhi's grandfather and late DMK patriarch M Karunanidhi have also spoken about it in the past.
Haasan said the extent of reformist leader Periyar E V Ramasamy's anger against social ills can be understood from the leader's life. He said people like himself understood the word 'Sanatana' only due to Periyar.
Though Periyar had been the administrator of a temple and had even performed puja while in Kashi, he gave up all that and dedicated his entire life in the service of people, Haasan said.
Neither the ruling DMK nor any other party can claim that Periyar belongs only to them; the entire state of Tamil Nadu should celebrate him as their leader, he said, adding that he himself has been one among those who honour Periyar.
Speaking about the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, he said the BJP regime may attempt to even advance it according to their convenience.
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Congress using hijab issue to pacify minority anger, alleges Karnataka LoP R Ashoka
Bengaluru: Leader of Opposition in the Assembly R. Ashoka has accused the Congress government of using the hijab issue to placate what he described as discontent among minority voters after the Davanagere by-election.
In a post on X on Wednesday, Ashoka alleged that the state government, instead of addressing issues such as price rise, corruption, farmers’ distress and law and order, was attempting to retain its minority vote base by reviving the hijab issue.
Referring to the 2022 dress code introduced by the BJP government, which prohibited hijab in schools and colleges, Ashoka said the Karnataka High Court had upheld the policy and emphasised the importance of discipline in educational institutions.
He questioned the Congress government’s move to revisit the issue and asked whether setting aside the court-backed policy to benefit one community could be described as secularism.
Ashoka further alleged that while the government was willing to permit hijab, it continued to prohibit saffron shawls.
He accused the government of dividing students on religious lines rather than treating schools and colleges as spaces of equality.
Drawing a comparison with Mamata Banerjee’s government in West Bengal, Ashoka claimed that excessive appeasement politics had harmed the state and warned that the Congress in Karnataka could face a similar political response.
He said voters in Karnataka would teach the Congress a lesson for what he termed “vote-bank politics” and for compromising constitutional and judicial principles.
