Sanatan row: Udhay says politically motivated petition in MHC
Udhayanidhi Stalin filed a counter affidavit before Justice Anita Sumanth, stating that the quo warranto filed against him is not maintainable and that it must be dismissed at the threshold.
Udhayanidhi Stalin; Madras High Court
CHENNAI: The Madras High Court has adjourned the quo warranto petition filed against Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin for his Sanatan Dharma eradication speech, after he submits his counter stating that the petition filed against him is politically motivated one.
Udhayanidhi Stalin filed a counter affidavit before Justice Anita Sumanth, stating that the quo warranto filed against him is not maintainable and that it must be dismissed at the threshold. All the allegation posed against me is false, incorrect, baseless and untenable in law, said the minister.
Further, he also mentioned that the petitioner represents Hindu Munnani a wing of RSS and stated that the invisible hand of the BJP to seed its political ideology in the soil of Tamilnadu through the Court can be seen in quo warranto against me.
No person can be disqualified from holding office as Minister merely because he or she holds a view on a particular issue, reads the affidavit.
Senior counsel Wilson appeared for the minister wondered that how the speech criticizing Sanatan Dharma can be against the constitution.
In case any oath is breached, as the petitioner alleges, the Chief Minister of the State only has the power to advise the Governor to withdraw the minister, not through the court, contended the counsel.
The affidavit filed by the secretary to the Tamil Nadu Assembly, K Srinivasan, stated that the intention of the quo warranto is to take political advantage of the situation as the petitioner is from Hindu Munnani. A person who holds officer by the virtue of election cannot be removed by issuance of quo warranto, reads the affidavit.
After the submission the judge directed Udhayanidhi to submit the details of the event organised against Sanatan Dharma in which he participated and adjourned the case to October 31 for further hearing.
On September 2, minister Udhayanidhi equated Sanatan Dharma with Malaria and Dengue, adding it should be eradicated like these ailments, in an event organised by the Tamil Nadu Progressive Writers Association against Sanatan Dharma, minister Sekarbabau also participated in that event.
Similarly in another event, A Raja MP criticised Sanatana Dharma as it should be equated with leprosy and HIV.
T Manohar, Kishore Kumar, and V P Jayakumar, the functionaries of Hindu Munnani moved the Madras High Court (MHC) seeking to remove the ministers and MP for their alleged comments against Sanatan Dharma.
