New Delhi: Coming down heavily on the Congress amid the Sanatan Dharma controversy, Union Minister Smriti Irani on Saturday said the upcoming assembly polls in Madhya Pradesh will not be just another election, but a battle between “adharma and dharma” (moral and immoral). Slamming senior Congress leader and former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath, Irani said if he really has faith in Sanatan Dharma, then he should challenge the Gandhi family to sever ties with the DMK.
"To show faith in the religion before the election in Chhindwara and inviting a seer at an event is not enough. If Kamal Nath has special faith in the religion (Sanatan Dharma) then he should challenge the Gandhi family to drop the alliance with the DMK," the Union Minister said.
Smriti Irani’s remarks came hours after Kamal Nath said the majority of people in India follow the Sanatan Dharma and accused the BJP of trying to trigger a controversy around the subject in a bid to divert attention from real issues.
Addressing a press conference with AICC in-charge for Madhya Pradesh Randeep Singh Surjewala in Bhopal earlier in the day, Nath said this is not the first time the saffron party is using this ploy. Ahead of the 2019 general elections, too, the BJP had raked up issues like nationalism and surgical strike to divert the people’s attention.
“India is a country where a majority of people follow Sanatan Dharma. However, the BJP is trying to divert the attention from real issues and hence brought up the Sanatan Dharma controversy,” news agency PTI quoted Kamal Nath as saying.
Addressing a rally in Madhya Pradesh’s Sehore, Irani said, “This is not just an election, it is a fight between Adharma and Dharma. It is a fight between Lord Ram devotees and those who file affidavits that Lord Ram does not exist. This is not an ordinary fight. They have decided to abolish Sanatana Dharma and we have vowed to protect the Dharma till our last breath.”
Slamming the Opposition bloc I.N.D.I.A’s announcement to boycott several TV news anchors, Irani further said that she wasn’t aware that the Opposition was afraid to even take questions from journalists.
“I thank the journalists who are still here and recording. They (Opposition) released a list to boycott 14 journalists. We did not know that the Gandhi family was so cowardly that they would get scared of questions from journalists,” the Union Minister added.