Opposing a writ of quo warranto filed against him for his views on sanatana dharma, Minister for Youth Welfare and Sports Development Udhayanidhi Stalin on Monday told the Madras High Court that holding a viewpoint against caste hegemony, preaching equality among all human beings and calling for eradication of social discrimination on the grounds of caste, creed and sex cannot be termed unconstitutional.
Arguing before Justice Anitha Sumanth, Senior Counsel P. Wilson, representing the Minister, said that by relying upon a 1902 literature on sanatana dharma, the writ petitioner, T. Manohar, a Hindu Munnani office-bearer, wanted to take society back to the dark ages, when men and women were not treated equal, and when people born into the so-called “lower caste” were shunned, ostracised and treated as second-class citizens.
“The present writ petition is politically motivated. It is a classic case of abuse of process of the court. A certain ideology which is opposed to the more than 100 years old Dravidian ideology is attempting to use the court process to settle political and social questions. While the Dravidian ideology speaks of self-respect, equality, rational thought and brotherhood, the opposing sect speaks of division on the basis of caste,” he argued.
