Strategy to get vote bank support: BJP's V Muraleedharan slams Kerala CM's remarks on Sanatana Dharma

Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala) [India], January 1 (ANI): Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader V Muraleedharan on Wednesday condemned Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan's remarks on Sree Narayana Guru and Sanatana Dharma, alleging it was a strategy to gain support from organized vote banks linked to terrorists and enemies of the country.
Speaking to ANI, Muraleedharan said, "Pinarayi Vijayan tries to portray Sanadhana Dharma as something which is to bring back the rule of kings and emperors. It is against democracy. This is all a well thought out strategy so that they feel they can get the support of the organised vote banks which are supporting terrorists, supporting enemies of the country who are with the enemies of this country."
Muraleedharan also claimed that Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan's statement was made based on the INDI alliance strategy of denigrating and insulting Sanatana Dharma.
"Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan's statement yesterday in Shivgiri on the occasion of the pilgrimage of Sri Narayana Guru is on the basis of the INDI alliance strategy of denigrating and insulting Sanatana Dharma. That is why Rahul Gandhi speaks in Parliament against Sanatana Dharma. He misinterprets the epics and puranas, Uhdayanidhi Stalin says that Sanatana Dharma has to be eradicated," Muraleedharan said.
Muraleedharan's remarks came in response to Kerala CM Vijayan's remarks during a speech at the Sivagiri Pilgrimage on Tuesday.
Earlier today, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla on Wednesday condemned Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan's remarks on Sanatan Dharma, accusing him of insulting Hinduism to secure extremist votes. He also challenged Vijayan to make similar remarks against other religions.
Speaking to ANI, Poonawalla said, "The new year has started but their mindset is the same to insult the Sanatan. The statement made by the Chief Minister of Kerala is part of the long series of statements which have been made recently. Now the Left was feeling that Congress had overtaken them in vote bank politics and to get back that extremist vote bank, they are making all these kinds of abusive insults at Hindu faith and Sanatan. Will they have the courage to say this against any other religion? They don't. But unfortunately, they call this 'Mohabbat ki Dukan'"
On Tuesday while addressing at Sivagiri Pilgrimage, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said, "Sanatana Dharma is synonymous with or inseparable from the Varnashrama Dharma, which is based on the Chaturvarna system. What does this Varnashrama Dharma uphold? It glorifies hereditary professions. But what did Sree Narayana Guru do? He called for defiance of hereditary professions. How, then, can Guru be an advocate of Sanatana Dharma?"
"Guru's ascetic life was a constant questioning and defiance of the Chaturvarna system. How can someone who proclaimed, "One Caste, One Religion, One God for humankind" be an advocate of Sanatana Dharma, which is rooted in the confines of a single religion? Guru championed a dharma that opposed the caste system," Vijayan added. (ANI)