Over 260 citizens, mostly former judges, bureaucrats and retired Armed Forces personnel, have written a letter to Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud to initiate suo motu contempt proceedings against Tamil Nadu for failing to take action against Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin for his remarks about Sanatana Dharma at a public forum, which the signatories said amounted to hate speech.
The letter referred to orders passed by the Supreme Court that State governments should take suo motu action against any hate speech crime without waiting for any complaint.
“Not only did he make a hate speech but Udhayanidhi Stalin refused to apologise for his remarks. Rather he justified himself by stating, ‘l will say this continuously’ with reference to his remark that Sanatana Dharma should be eradicated. He reiterated that he stands by his remarks and offered ambiguities and nuances that did little to address the concerns raised by people,” the letter said.
It said the remarks “undeniably amount to hate speech against a large population of India and strikes at the very core of the Constitution of India which envisages Bharat as a secular nation”.
The signatories, a total of 262 of them, claimed the rule of law was further undermined when Tamil Nadu government refused to take action against Mr. Udhayanidhi and rather chose to justify his remarks.
The State’s refusal to act had rather made a “mockery of the rule of law”, the letter said.
