‘My religion is the Constitution’: Priyank Kharge on ‘Sanatana Dharma’ row

Bengaluru: Days after an FIR was registered against him and Tamil Nadu minister Udhayanidhi Stalin over the remarks made on the ‘Sanatan Dharma’, Karnataka Minister Priyank Kharge on Thursday clarified that his statement did not intend to hurt the sentiments of any religion adding that he follows the Constitution.
"My statement was not against any religion. I said that any religion that discriminates between human beings is not a religion. I follow the Constitution, my religion is the Constitution. If they want to file an FIR against me or they want to arrest me, it is up to the individuals, I really don't care," he told ANI.
The Karnataka Minister also hit out at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for allegedly twisting his statement and said that they don't understand the language and can file the FIR.
"These people do not understand Kannada, Hindi or English. All I have said is that the Consitution is my religion. Does the BJP have a problem with it? Let them file as many FIRs as they want, they are free to do so," he said.
Kharge also reacted to the statement of BJP National Secretary B. L. Santhosh and said that Santosh agreed to a problem in the system, so it is better that they answer what kind of problem it is.
"If you heard BL Santosh's statement he said yes there is an allergy in the system. Just because there is an allergy in the stomach does not mean you cut off the head. Please ask him what allergy it is. Mohan Bhagwat has given a statement saying that yes there has been social discrimination for over 2500 years. There was inequality for over 2000 years being done by us. Please ask him who we are. What philosophy, and religion discriminated against humans from being humans? What prevented us from having an equitable society? They are the ones who have to answer because they are the ones who have agreed," he said.
This comes after BJP National Secretary B. L. Santhosh reacted to Priyank Kharge's statement on Monday in a post on X and said, "So if there is an infection in somebody’s stomach, you chop off the head..??"
The post was in response to Kharge saying "Any religion that does not promote equality or does not ensure you have the dignity of being human is not a religion according to me."
Meanwhile, Udhayanidhi, along with Congress' Priyank Kharge, was booked under Section 153A, 295A Indian Penal Code (IPC) over 'Sanatan Dharma' remarks after a complaint from advocates in Uttar Pradesh's Rampur on Tuesday.
Last week, DMK leader Udhayanidhi Stalin had during an event in Tamil Nadu compared ‘Sanatan Dharma’ with diseases like dengue and malaria.