BHUBANESWAR: Former Union minister, diplomat and author Mani Shankar Aiyar on Saturday said the “unnecessary” fuss over the stance of DMK on Sanatana Dharma is likely to lead the country to a very dangerous position. Speaking at the Odisha Literary Festival 2023 here, Aiyar said that there is nothing new in DMK position except for the fact that the country now has a fundamentalist believer in the Sanatan Dharma as the prime minister.
The DMK is stating what it has been saying for the last so many years. “Because of this, my father had to leave Chennai and settle in Lahore after he found that there was no possibility of getting a job there,” Aiyar said and added, “If the Dravidians are continued to be provoked, the east, west and south of the country will be in danger. Besides, if the Central government insists on imposing Hindi on south Indians, then it will also put south, east and north in danger.”
Questioning the policy adopted on Jammu and Kashmir, Aiyar said the state should be treated with far more consideration and sympathy than is being displayed now since August 5, 2019. “I am afraid we are going to get into a very dangerous position in the north of India, in Kashmir and possibly in Punjab,” he said.
The former union minister said that secularism is an idea in which the minorities are taken care of. But that does not seem to be the case now. What happened in Parliament on the last day is indicative of the situation in the country. Stating that 200 million strong minorities are born ‘Bharatiyas’, he said they are not being treated as they should be. “Bringing India together is the single biggest task for all of us,” he said.
“Secularism is not about securing a good life for the majority. It is ensuring a good life for the minorities. I think my problem is I am a fundamentalist when it comes to secularism,” Aiyar commented.