Sanatana Dharma propounds “abominable, pernicious, illegal and evil practices” such as inequality on the basis of caste and gender. Therefore, as a legislator, “it is my constitutional duty to speak about equality and eradication of social evils,” the Nilgiris MP A. Raja, of the DMK, told the Madras High Court on Friday.
In a counter affidavit filed before Justice Anita Sumanth, who was seized of a writ of quo warranto filed against him for insisting upon the annihilation of Sanatana Dharma, he said: “Whatever I spoke about Sanatana Dharma were my views and opinions, which I am entitled to express as the Constitution guarantees freedom of conscience.”
He further said: “My views are founded on Constituent Assembly debates and have been echoed by none other than the framers of the Constitution. None of my utterances can even remotely be construed as opposed to the principles of equality and social justice enshrined in the Constitution...”
