TVK MLA Mustafa Issues Clarification on "Eradicate Sanatana" Remark | News18 Updates

Added: 2026-05-17

[00:00:00]And more breaking news coming in. Now, V. M. S. Musthafa has tweeted a video with [music] a caption, "We are not against any religion." is the pitch that is coming in from the TVK MLA who had sparked a fresh controversy after Udhayanidhi Stalin inside the state assembly referred for referred to Sanatana Dharma as something that needs to be eradicated, reiterating his remarks from years back. I'm joined by my colleague Poornima Murali on the broadcast. So, Poornima, even though the clarification might come in from V. M. S. Musthafa that he is not against any faith, at the end of the day, the damage has been done because when Udhayanidhi Stalin called for the eradication of Sanatana Dharma, Vijay's reaction was just folding his hands. And now, in this case, uh Vijay's reaction is quite tepid when it comes to the the statement coming in from one of his own MLAs. So, Vijay, right after forming the government, finds himself mired in this fresh controversy, something that will hurt him given his secular credentials.

[00:00:59]Well, ever since this controversy broke out, uh TVK did not uh issue any statement. However, uh we tried reaching out to TVK MLA Musthafa. He did not want to speak. He said he'll get back. But, ever since then, he's not been responding. And finally, considering that there's been a lot of uh uh backlash over the statement that he made, he has in fact put out a tweet and uh made it clear that uh uh all religions are the same. He now clarifies uh saying that all religions are the same and uh the this video uh that he uh did share on his social media account is uh is from Madurai, uh and that is his constituency. From there, he also said that they do bhajans as well. All religions are one. And uh putting an end to uh uh the the kind of questions and concerns that have been raised by parties like the BJP, he says that according to him as well, all religions are the same. This is something that TVK also has uh said. We We did speak to some of the other MLAs on the day Udhayanidhi made the statement. They said they won't be biased towards any religion. They won't go against any religion or hurt the sentiments of any religion. That's the kind of response we've got on Sanatanam, but this video that in which he speaks or he echoes what Udhayanidhi said hasn't gone down well. And after facing backlash, he clarifies and says all religions are the same and reiterates that this is this is something that TVK TVK's principles and ideologies would be.

[00:02:25]Right, but Poornima, the argument coming in from the BJP is that given the fact that Vijay has a very slender majority to prop up his government, it's pretty much a nod from the DMK that can make or break his government. So, he is falling in line to long-standing views held by the DMK leadership because it's not just Udhayanidhi Stalin, and other DMK leaders like K. Ponmudi and even A. Raja have spoken out against Sanatan Dharma.

[00:02:55]DMK continues to stick to its stance.

[00:02:58]Earlier today, TKS Elangovan also said that DMK is against the principles of Sanatanam, and that is something that they will continue to do reiterate.

[00:03:09]There's no change in their stance. They are not against Hindu. They are just against the principles of Sanatana Dharma, and this is something that DMK leaders, like you said, Udhayanidhi Stalin, A. Raja, they've all time and again said.

[00:03:21]When Udhayanidhi made the speech on the 12th of May as well, we saw Vijay, the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, not really responding to that, and some of his MLAs also did not want to react on what the party's stance is, which is why the BJP wants Vijay to explain what the party's stance is, what the party thinks about Sanatanam, whether they oppose it or whether they they too, like the DMK, would back Udhayanidhi's statement. So, that's the kind of response that we've seen.

[00:03:47]But, we'll now have to wait and see whether it But clarification from the MLA will put an end to the criticism or whether it will continue to snowball we will know in the coming hours.

[00:03:58]Absolutely. Thank you Purnima for getting us the latest updates coming in.