Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday accused the Opposition bloc INDIA of plotting to “finish” Sanatan Dharma and urged watchfulness on the part of “every Sanatani”.

“The INDI Alliance held a meeting in Mumbai recently to decide their strategy. They have also decided on a hidden agenda,” Modi told a rally in poll-bound Madhya Pradesh.

“The strategy is to attack the culture of Bharat, attack the faith of Bharat, and finish the thoughts, values and traditions that have united the country for thousands of years.”

“INDI Alliance” is how BJP leaders have been referring to the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance, reluctant to use the acronym INDIA. Modi also called it “ghamandia (arrogant) alliance”.

Modi did not directly refer to DMK leader Udhayanidhi Stalin’s call for the “eradication of Sanatana Dharma” that had triggered the controversy. While Udhayanidhi has clarified he merely wants an end to social discrimination, BJP leaders have accused him of calling for “genocide” of Hindus and charged the INDIA coalition with being anti-Hindu.

Thursday was the first time the Prime Minister spoke publicly on the controversy. His call to every “Sanatani” to push back against the Opposition’s “hidden agenda” to destroy their faith appeared to portray the BJP as the sole saviour of the country’s majority Hindus.

“In the days to come, they (the Opposition) will step up their attack on us. Every Sanatani, every person who loves this country and its people, has to stay vigilant,” the Prime Minister said.

“They want to finish the Sanatan tradition and push the country back into a thousand years of slavery. We have to stop such forces together.”

“Thousand years of slavery” is the RSS-BJP’s way of implying that Hindus had been enslaved as much under Muslim rule as under British rule.

S. Gurumurthy, editor of the Tamil political weekly Thuglak and a known Hindutva ideologue, appeared to justify Modi’s exploitation of the Sanatan Dharma controversy for political ends.

“INDI alliance has bowled a full toss. It is being hit. Right both in principle and as a strategy,” Gurumurthy posted on X, referring to a news report on Modi’s speech.

Modi attempted to harness national icons such as Mahatma Gandhi, Swami Vivekananda, Bal Gangadhar Tilak and Rani Laxmibai to the Sanatan Dharma bandwagon, insisting that they had all been inspired by the Hindu faith.

He said Gandhi considered Sanatan Dharma and the ideals of Ram key to his life. “Mahatma Gandhi’s last words were ‘He Ram’,” Modi asserted.

The timing of the Sanatan controversy suits the BJP. Hindu sentiments do matter in poll-bound Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, and the BJP is known to use polarisation to distract attention from issues of everyday life.

Even the Congress campaign in Madhya Pradesh seems to be peddling a “soft Hindutva” line, with Kamal Nath calling himself a “Hanuman bhakt” and courting Hindu monks.

In power for nearly two decades in Madhya Pradesh, the BJP is battling simmering voter anger over price rise, joblessness, corruption and factional fight in the party.

Modi, who addressed the rally after laying the foundations for several development projects, did touch upon the subject of unemployment, claiming the projects he was launching would create a huge number of jobs.

Playing up Delhi’s hosting of the G20 Summit, the Prime Minister said Indians had their “heads held high” and “chests filled with pride” because of the success of the event.

“Every child in the villages knows about the G20 and it has bolstered their self-confidence,” he claimed.

Modi said “Bharat” had emerged as a “Vishwa Mitra” (friend of the world), and refrained from using the term “Vishwa Guru” (teacher of the world).

He repeated the attack on the Opposition in Chhattisgarh, where he addressed a rally in Raigarh.

“The INDI alliance has decided to finish the Sanatan tradition. In their lust for power they want to destroy our culture, which has held us together,” he said.

“Ye Bharat ko hi mitana chahte hain (They want to finish Bharat),” he added, while playing up Chhattisgarh as Lord Ram’s maternal place.