CHENNAI, Aug 4: Rekindling the row over Sanatan afresh, actor-politician Kamal Hassan, while emphasising the importance of education as the primary tool for social change and advancement,
has said only that alone remains the weapon which could break the shackles of dictatorship and Sanatan.
“Education gives the requisite strength to change laws and shape the nation’s trajectory. It is a war, and in that education alone can destroy and wipe out dictatorship and Sanatan along with their attendant paraphernalia,” he said on Sunday evening at the 15th anniversary of ‘Agaram Foundation’ of popular actor Surya Sivakumar, in Chennai.
The foundation is engaged in providing financial and logistical support for the education of the poor and underprivileged students.
Coming down heavily on NEET examination for MBBS programme, he said it is denying and depriving aspiring students of their opportunity and has to be repealed for which education is the
tool and nothing else.
He was cautioning against any resort to violence. “Since 2017, NEET has had limited the opportunities. Even the Agaram foundation could not do anything beyond a point since the law is
the stumbling block.
“In this war, we cannot win without education. As such, hold on to education firmly and nothing else. Otherwise, the majority, who are fools, will defeat you,” he added.
The condemnation of Sanatan by Hassan, a newly elected Rajya Sabha MP, comes close on the heels of Nationalist Congress Party (SP) leader Jitendra Awhad who had said “Sanatan Dharma has ruined India. There was no religion called Sanatan Dharma. Sanatan Dharma was responsible for denying Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj his coronation. Its followers tried to assassinate social reformer Jyotirao Phule.”
Earlier, In September 2023, Tamil Nadu Deputy Chief Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin had likened Sanatan Dharma to dengue and cholera which had to be eliminated. It created a furore with the
BJP and Sangh Parivaar painting him as anti-Hindu and had to face court cases though he
eventually came out of them.
(UNI)
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