New Delhi, Aug 4 (IANS) NCP (SP) MLA Jitendra Awhad’s controversial remarks against Sanatan Dharma have triggered a political storm, with leaders from BJP and JD-U sharply criticising his statement, describing it as an indicative of distorted mentality. They also accused him of stoking religious division for political mileage.

Hitting back at Awhad, Madhya Pradesh Minister Inder Singh Parmar said, “Only those with a distorted mentality can hold such views. I believe such people need to correct their own mindset. It is because of Sanatan Dharma that they even have an identity today.”

Speaking to the media on Saturday, Awhad had said, “Sanatan Dharma has ruined India. There was never a religion called Sanatan Dharma. We are followers of Hindu Dharma.”

BJP MLA Ram Kadam also condemned the comments, accusing the Sharad Pawar faction of deliberately misrepresenting Hindu beliefs for appeasement politics.

“Sanatan Dharma is the one that teaches ‘Sarve Bhavantu Sukhinah’. We consider the world our family and service to humanity as supreme. Doesn’t the Sharad Pawar faction understand this? They deliberately label the saffron colour as terrorism, which is completely wrong and misleading. It is just an act of appeasement toward a particular religious group,” he said.

JD-U chief spokesperson Neeraj Kumar also expressed dismay, accusing him of making the political discourse ‘intellectually toxic’.

“I feel that politics has reached a stage where there’s an atmosphere of intellectual terror… I only learned today that Hinduism is now being identified specifically as Sanatan Dharma. Who is the supreme intellectual authority here? Politicians who deliver sermons on religion should quit politics and instead take up the formal role of spiritual preachers,” Kumar said.

Despite uproar over his controversial remarks, Dr Ahwad has stood his ground and even took to X to state, “Sanatan terrorism must be acknowledged! The existence of Sanatan terrorism is not a recent phenomenon; rather, it has existed since ancient times.”

–IANS

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