Sanatan Dharma a ‘perverted ideology’, has ruined India: Maharashtra MLA Jitendra Awhad

A political row erupted in Maharashtra on Saturday after Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar) MLA Jitendra Awhad claimed that Sanatan Dharma “ruined India” and described the ideology as “perverted”, ANI reported.

Awhad made the remarks in response to a special court in Mumbai acquitting Bharatiya Janata Party leader Pragya Singh Thakur, Lieutenant Colonel Prasad Purohit and five others on Thursday in the 2008 Malegaon blast case.

The blast has been referred to as an incident of “saffron terror”.

“Sanatan Dharma has ruined India,” ANI quoted Awhad as telling reporters on Saturday. “There was never any religion called Sanatan Dharma. We are followers of Hindu Dharma. It was this so-called Sanatan Dharma that denied our Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj his coronation. This Sanatan Dharma defamed our Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj.”

He added that the “followers of this Sanatan Dharma tried to assassinate” anti-caste activist Jyotirao Phule.

“They threw cow dung and filth at [anti-caste activist] Savitribai Phule,” Awhad said. “This very Sanatan Dharma conspired to kill Shahu Maharaj. It did not even allow Dr BR Ambedkar to drink water or attend school.”

The MLA said that it was Ambedkar who rose against Sanatan Dharma, burned the Manusmriti and rejected its oppressive traditions. “…One must not be afraid to say openly that Sanatan Dharma and its Sanatani ideology are perverted,” he...

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