AAP leader Raghav Chadha on Tuesday condemned DMK chief Udayanidhi Stalin’s remark on Sanatana Dharma, but said statements by some “minor” leaders of the party cannot be taken as the official stand of the INDIA bloc.
“I am of Sanatana Dharma. I condemn and oppose such statements. Such statements should not be made. Such remarks about any religion should be avoided. We should respect all religions,” Chadha told PTI in an interview.
BJP attacked the HINDAN coalition for this. On Tuesday, BJP accused the HINDU bloc of having a secret agenda to target Sanatana Dharma in vote bank politics. Some party leaders make such remarks… that does not mean it is a union statement. The alliance is formed to raise important issues like price rise, unemployment that the country is facing. The statement of some petty leaders standing in the state territory is not the official stand of the union,” said Chadha.
More than two dozen opposition parties have formed the Indian National Development Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) to jointly face the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
Chadha is a member of the 14-member Coordination Committee, the highest decision-making body of the INDIA bloc. The committee meeting will be held on Wednesday at the residence of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar in Delhi. “The meeting will discuss the issues we are raising, how we can reach people with them through demonstrations or door-to-door campaign, public demonstration and state dynamics. All states are different and this is how we celebrate our diversity. The election color is different. . We will discuss it state by state,” he said.
“Each party has to sacrifice three things for the success of this alliance – ambition (mahatvakanksha), differences (matbhed) and manbhed,” he added. When he asked about the names of the possible chief ministers of the opposition alliance, the first thing he said was that AAP was not in the race.
We are a loyal soldier in this union. We are not competing for the position of prime minister. Our association has many qualified managers. We have a lot of smart people. But can anyone from the NDA stand up and say they want Nitin Gadkar as PM or Amit Shah as PM? I just want to prove that we have many qualified managers. They have none. They can only take the name of one leader,” he said.
He further said, “The alliance will take a decision (on behalf of the prime minister). Even the alliance formed in 1977 did not have a face declared as prime minister but they won the election against Indira Gandhi. I can see it happening again.”
