Tamil Nadu Congress Committee (TNCC) president K.S. Alagiri on Sunday reiterated the “importance of criticism” against Sanatana Dharma and reform of certain superstitious practices and urged the party office-bearers to explain its stance with respect to religion and religious reform to the people.
At a meeting of the TNCC Tiruvallur district office-bearers and booth committee members in Vanagaram, he said both Mahatma Gandhi and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi wanted to bring Dalits, “who are kept outside of four Varnas as per Varnashrama Dharma”, into the mainstream of society.
“Congress believes in God. But it believes in treating all religions equally. We are not against the Hindu religion. I am saying what Gandhiji said: we are all Hindus, but we want a reformed Hinduism. A 100 years ago, Vaidyanatha Iyer went inside Madurai Meenakshi Amman temple and faced so much opposition. Society opposed him, but he stood firm. Later, the Congress government in Tamil Nadu under the then Chief Minister Kamarajar appointed a Dalit as Minister of Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments. We need to speak about these things. Mahatma Gandhi was the best propagandist in the world in those days,” he said.
