Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday told his council of ministers that the remarks of DMK leader Udhayanidhi Stalin on Sanatana Dharma “need a proper response”. But, at the same time, Modi advised caution, stressing that they should “stick to facts in line with the Constitution” and not go overboard, according to government sources.

The sources did not clarify what Modi meant by “constitutional facts”. But the
stress on caution in countering the comments is being seen as an effort to restrain the party from going overboard, given the dominance of Dravidian politics in Tamil Nadu.

In the southern state, Sanatana is associated with the dominance of upper castes, and Modi appeared to be advising caution in this context. Modi also advised the ministers not to go overboard on the India-Bharat debate, the sources said.

The purported comments of Modi were made at a meeting of the Union council of ministers ahead of the G20 Summit as well as the five-day (September 18-22) “Special Session” of Parliament.

The government sources also said that the special session would start in the old Parliament building and move to the new complex the next day (September 19), coinciding with Ganesh Chaturthi.

On the Sanatana Dharma controversy, sources said Modi laid stress on countering the comments of Udhayanidhi and other Opposition leaders with firmness but also with caution. “The PM told the ministers not to go into the history (of Sanatana Dharma) but respond on the basis of constitutional facts,” a government source said.

Udhayanidhi has stuck to his assertion against the “exploitative and anti-social-justice” Sanatana Dharma and listed the omission of an invite to President Droupadi Murmu for the inauguration of the new Parliament building as an example of caste discrimination by some of the practitioners of Sanatana.

Modi inaugurated the new Parliament building in May this year by installing a sceptre or sengol in the Lok Sabha amid rituals conducted by priests, harking back to a tradition associated with the Chola kings.

No session of the Parliament, however, has been held so far in the new building. The government intends to use the special session to formally shift from the old to the new.

“PM Modi had given a call that all the symbols of slavery should be junked in Amrit Kaal and so the transition from the British-era Parliament building to the new Parliament will take place on the auspicious occasion of Ganesh Chaturthi,” a BJP leader said.

“In Hindu tradition, Shri Ganesh symbolises the commencement of something new and auspicious. The special session seems to have been deliberately called during Ganesh Chaturthi to mark a new beginning in the new Parliament building,” the BJP leader added, hailing Modi for the plan.