Kerala CM says Narayana Guru shouldn’t be confined to Sanatana Dharma, sparks BJP criticism
The Bharatiya Janata Party asked if Pinarayi Vijayan could question other religions in a similar vein.
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Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan remarked on Tuesday that social reformer Narayana Guru should not be viewed as a proponent of Sanatana Dharma, sparking criticism from the Bharatiya Janata Party, The Indian Express reported.
Sanatana Dharma is a term some people use as a synonym for Hinduism.
At a conference held as part of the Sivagiri pilgrimage, Vijayan said that Guru upheld a secular humanistic worldview, challenged the varnashrama system and reconstructed Sanatana Dharma.
The varnashrama system is a system of social stratification rooted in Hindu scriptures that divides society into priests, warriors and rulers, merchants and farmers, and servants, and prescribes duties for each of them. It is related to the caste system, which is a more rigid and region-specific system of stratification.
Vijayan on Tuesday argued that any attempts to confine Narayana Guru to the framework of Sanatana Dharma would be an insult to him.
“How can Narayana Guru, who propagated the concept of ‘One Caste, One Religion, One God’, be an advocate of Sanatana Dharma?” the Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader asked. “There is an attempt to depict social reformer Guru as a religious leader and religious sanyasin [ascetic].”
The Bharatiya Janata Party, however, asked if Vijayan could question other religions in a similar vein, The Times of India reported. “Will Vijayan dare to pass such comments on the...
