New Delhi, Aug 3 (IANS) In a fiery rebuttal to rising political rhetoric surrounding Sanatan Dharma, senior NCP (SP) leader Jitendra Awhad launched a sharp critique of the ideology, linking it to caste-based discrimination and inequality enshrined in the Manusmriti.

Talking to IANS from Thane, he said, “I have been saying this for 30 years — this fight isn’t new for me,” asserting his Hindu identity. “I don’t need a certificate from anyone to prove I’m Hindu. But tell me — how many Hindus in Maharashtra have had to take permission to build temples..?”

Awhad distinguished between Hinduism as a religion and the Sanatani ideology, which he believes is being politically exploited. “The foundation of Sanatan lies in the Manusmriti, and it is filled with inequality,” he said, invoking historical injustices suffered by social reformers like Dr B.R. Ambedkar and Mahatma Phule.

He criticised the practice of clinging to rigid traditionalism, asking, “Should daughters not study? Should we discard them after use?” Referring to Ambedkar’s childhood, Awhad pointed out how he was made to sit outside the classroom. “Yet he gave us the Constitution. His fight was against the Manusmriti,” he added.

Reacting to Minister Nitesh Rane’s earlier remarks against him, Awhad said, “Everyone has the right to speak — that right is granted by the Constitution, not the Manusmriti. Say what you want about me, but I will not be silenced.”

Citing historical injustices, he questioned: “Was there no inequality in Bharat? Didn’t people raise weapons against (Jyotirao) Phule? Didn’t they hit his wife with cow dung? Wasn’t Shivaji Maharaj’s coronation opposed by some? Who raised a conspiracy to kill Shivaji and Sambhaji…They were also Hindus,” he said.

He further added that people uncomfortable with such truths would “run away when asked to answer these questions.”

–IANS

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