DMK leader and Tamil Nadu Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin said on Sunday that the BJP-led central government under PM Modi “twisted, magnified, and made the whole country talk about” his remarks.

Udhayanidhi had called for the eradication of Sanatan Dharma in September.

Invoking the row over his remarks in which he equated Sanatan Dharma with “mosquitoes, dengue, malaria, fever, and corona” that need to be eradicated and not merely opposed, Udhayanidhi said, “PM Modi, who is campaigning for the elections in Madhya Pradesh, brought up my speech and spoke about me. He said I had called for genocide (of followers of Sanatan Dharma). He accused me of saying things that I did not.”

“I was attending a conference (in Chennai) and spoke only for three minutes. All that I said was that everyone should be treated equally and not be discriminated against, and that any attempts at discrimination must be eradicated. But they (the BJP) twisted my comment, magnified it, and made the whole country talk about me,” the DMK leader further said.

“Some seers announced a bounty of 5–10 crore on my head. The matter is currently in court, and I have full faith in the law. I was asked to tender an apology for my remarks. But I said I couldn’t apologise. I said that I am Stalin’s son, grandson of the Kalaignar, and I was only articulating the ideology espoused by them,” he added.

The Tamil Nadu Minister has continuously refused to apologise for his statement. Earlier in November, he said that he will not back down from his call for the eradication of Sanatana Dharma, and his statement is in line with what BR Ambedkar and EV Ramasamy (called ‘Periyar’ by his supporters) have advocated.