More than three weeks after journalist and FirstPost columnist Abhijit Majumder wrote a critical piece on the anti-Hindu remarks of Tamil Nadu DMK MLA Udhayanidhi Stalin, the Tamil Nadu police reportedly lodged a First Information Report (FIR) against him.
On Friday (September 30), Majumder took to X (formerly Twitter) to inform that a team of 4 Tamil Nadu police personnel reached a prominent news studio office and were looking for him. As the journalist was travelling elsewhere, the cops could not get hold of him.
“What a day. Got a call from the media house I write and do TV for that 4 Tamil Nadu cops came looking for me for a piece I had written criticising Udhayanidhi Stalin’s call to eradicate Sanatan Dharma. Apparently, FIR has been filed. Then lawyers, cops. They say Modi is fascist,” he tweeted.
OpIndia learnt that Abhijit Majumder was also not provided a copy of the First Information Report, registered against him by the Tamil Nadu police.
On September 3 this year, the FirstPost columnist wrote an article, highlighting the ‘genocidal nature’ of the anti-Hindu speech delivered by Udhyanaidhi Stalin.
“Udhayanidhi Stalin’s genocidal call to exterminate those who follow Sanatan Dharma, or the timeless Hindu faith, is not surprising in Tamil Nadu, a state whose ethos has long been poisoned by EV Ramaswamy ‘Periyar’,” he had written.
Abhijit Majumder pointed out that the likes of EVR Ramaswamy (aka Periyar), the anti-Hindu activist revered by Stalin’s party, had been at the forefront of normalising Hindu hatred in Tamil Nadu.
“Even in the ’70s, Hindu deities were smashed or hit with slippers in the name of fighting historical injustices meted out to lower castes by Brahmins.
Udhayanidhi’s rant comparing Hindus with malarial mosquitoes and Covid virus could have easily gone without the kind of outrage we are seeing today,” he said.
The FirstPost columnist noted that the backlash faced by Udhayanidhi Stalin was an indication of the revival of Sanatan Dharma in Tamil Nadu. “Hinduness has been in Tamil Nadu for as long as it existed in the rest of India, tracing back to the Vedic times. It is not possible to keep that fountainhead of Sanatan Dharma muted forever with the rock of Dravidianism,” he added.
In his article, Abhijit Majumder talked at length about the rise of the BJP in Tamil Nadu under the leadership of State President Annamalai.
“Udhayanidhi Stalin’s message has also gone out loud and clear. The innate bigotry and violence of it may gladden many of his supporters, but it will also polarise and consolidate votes against him,” he remarked.
“His own mother is a devout, practising Hindu. In that sense, his rant is not just anti-Hindu and anti-Bharat, but it is also in a sense matricidal. The DMK may not be able to live it down,” the journalist had concluded.
This is not the first time that a case has been lodged against Abhijit Majumder. Earlier in June 2020, the All India Congress Committee (AICC) served a legal notice to him for criticising the grand-old party.
The Background of the Controversy
The development came nearly a month after Udhayanidhi Stalin stirred the hornet’s nest by comparing the Hindu civilisational religious philosophy with ‘malaria’ and ‘dengue.’
On September 2 this year, the DMK leader claimed, “Mosquitoes, dengue, flu, malaria, corona – we should not oppose these things. They’ve to be eradicated completely.”
“The same is the case with Santanam (Hinduism). Our first work should be to abolish/eradicate Sanatanam instead of opposing it. So, my appreciation to you all for giving an apt title to the meeting,” he stated.
Later, he went on a tirade against the Hindu civilisational religious philosophy on social media. While taking to X (formerly Twitter), Udhayanidhi Stalin wrote, “Sanatan Dharma is a principle that divides people in the name of caste and religion.”
“Uprooting Sanatan Dharma is upholding humanity and human equality…I spoke on behalf of the oppressed & marginalized, who suffer due to the Sanatan Dharma. I spoke on behalf of the oppressed & marginalized, who suffer due to the Sanatan Dharma,” he reiterated his sinister plan.
Tamil Nadu Congress leader Karti Chidambaram also extended his support to Stalin on Saturday (September 2). “Sanatan Dharma is nothing but code for a Caste Hierarchical Society. All those batting for it are hankering for the Good Ole Days! Caste is the Curse of India,” he went on a vitriolic rant against the Hindu civilisational religious philosophy.
On September 3 morning, he posted another tweet defending DMK leader Udhayanidhi Stalin. “There was no call for “Genocide” against anyone, this is a mischievous spin,” Karti Chidambaram claimed.
Tamil Nadu Congress spokesperson and General Secretary Lakshmi Ramachandran also courted controversy for equating Hinduism (Sanatan Dharma) with hate-mongering.
Later, Communist Party of India (CPI) leader D Raja refused to acknowledge Sanatan Dharma as a religious philosophy and blamed it for propagating inequality and patriarchy.
FIRs and counter FIRs
A First Information Report (FIR) was registered against Udhyanidhi Stalin for his derogatory remarks against Hinduism. The FIR, registered by the Mira Road police, was filed under Sections 153A and 295A of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
On September 12, a BJP delegation in Tamil Nadu handed over a memorandum to the police demanding registration of an FIR against the DMK leader for his remarks.
Earlier on September 7, 2023, Tiruchirappalli police filed an FIR against BJP spokesperson Amit Malviya for supposedly ‘distorting’ the speech of DMK Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin on Sanatan Dharma.