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Journalism of Courage
A few months after Tamil Nadu minister Udayanidhi Stalin’s criticism of Sanatan Dharma led to a bitter war of words between the DMK and the BJP, DMK’s Dharmapuri MP D N V Senthilkumar S triggered a controversy on Tuesday over his remarks on Hindi-speaking states. The remarks were later expunged from Parliament records. He made the comment while speaking on the Jammu and Kashmir Reservation (Amendment) Bill, 2023.
With the BJP criticising Senthilkumar’s “insensitive remark” and the DMK’s INDIA bloc allies from the Hindi heartland also left upset, Senthilkumar apologised a few hours later. “Commenting on the results of the five recent state Assembly elections, I have used a word in an inappropriate way. Not using that term with any intent, I apologise for sending the wrong meaning across,” he posted on X.
In a statement, DMK organisational secretary R S Bharati said, “Commenting on the results of the five state assembly elections, Dharmapuri Member of Parliament Senthilkumar used a term that could be misinterpreted. Upon learning this, the Honourable Chief Minister M K Stalin, the President of the Party, strongly reprimanded Senthilkumar’s choice of words.”
He added, “On behalf of the Party’s high command, I urge everyone to maintain civility and cultural respect when speaking in public. Everyone should adhere to the principles of Duty, Dignity, and Discipline as emphasised by Perarignar Anna. Additionally, in discussions on national issues, I urge you to avoid personal remarks.”
Earlier in the day, the DMK MP told the Lok Sabha, “People of this country should think that the power of this BJP is only winning elections and mainly in the heartland states of Hindi and what we generally call the ******** states. You cannot come to South India. You see all the results of what happens in Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andhra, Telangana, and Karnataka. We are very strong over there … You can never dream of setting foot there and taking control of all these southern states.”
Senthilkumar also said that the BJP had made Jammu and Kashmir a Union Territory because it could not win the state and wanted to rule it through the lieutenant governor.
BJP’s criticism and unhappy allies
Lashing out at Senthilkumar, BJP’s Tamil Nadu president K Annamalai wrote on X, “Chennai is sinking due to the misgovernance of DMK and so is their level of discourse on the floor of Parliament. After calling our north Indian friends Pani Puri sellers, toilet constructors etc I.N.D.I Alliance DMK MP makes Gaumutra Jibes. @BJP4TamilNadu highly condemns this insensitive remark.”
Annamalai added, “He has possibly forgotten that the NDA Alliance was in power in Karnataka until recently. The arrogance of DMK will be the reason for their downfall.”
While Congress leaders distanced themselves from Senthilkumar’s statement, the leaders of other INDIA parties criticised Senthilkumar.
Congress MP Karti P Chidambaram wrote on X, “Very unfortunate choice of words. Unparliamentary. @DrSenthil must forthwith apologise and withdraw his comments.”
“They should be careful and not hurt the sentiments of anybody,” Congress spokesperson P L Punia told The Indian Express. A Congress leader from the south not wishing to be named said he cringed on hearing the statement. He called for the respect of diversity and said there was no need to repeatedly wade into a controversy.
Rajya Sabha MP Manoj K Jha of the Rashtriya Janata Dal told The Indian Express, “All of us should refrain from making statements which do not uphold the great tradition of civilised discourse. I can appreciate the sense of agitation and anguish in the BJP and a section of the media. But the same reactions don’t come up when an entire Opposition bloc is called the promoter of terrorism by no less than the Prime Minister. We should avoid these dual stands in making reactions and collectively try to restore the idea of a discourse which does not hurt anyone.”
Samajwadi Party MP Javed Ali Khan said, “Kisi elake ko, kisi region ko is tareeke se nahin kahna chahiye (One particular region should not be singled out like this). This is not appropriate.”
Senior Janata Dal (United) leader K C Tyagi told The Indian Express, “We strongly condemn these kinds of statements made by any leader of any political party. This is not parliamentary language and these kinds of statements must not be used by any political leader. We strongly condemn these views.”
This is not the first time Senthilkumar has been at the centre of a controversy. Last year, he created a stir when he laid into a senior government official for organising a “bhumi pooja” ceremony during the inauguration of a road project in Dharmapuri district. The 46-year-old MP, a professional radiologist who defeated former Union Minister Anbumani Ramadoss in the 2019 elections, was then accused by the state BJP of being anti-Hindu.
In the past few years, DMK leaders have triggered several controversies with their comments. In 2021, state minister K N Nehru caused a stir when he claimed Biharis were “less brainy” than Tamils and were snatching away their jobs. The following year, DMK Rajya Sabha MP T K S Elangovan said Hindi would reduce Tamils to the status of “shudras”.
This January, DMK organisational secretary R S Bharathi said north Indians in Tamil Nadu sell panipuri and that Governor R N Ravi, with whom the DMK-led government has had several run-ins, was also like them. Then, in September, Udhayanidhi, Chief Minister M K Stalin’s son, called for the eradication of Sanatan Dharma, which is viewed as broadly synonymous with Hinduism. He compared it with mosquitoes, dengue, malaria, fever, and the coronavirus. The BJP latched on that comment and repeatedly raised it during the recent Assembly elections in the three Hindi heartland states to target the Congress and the INDIA alliance, painting them as anti-Hindu.
