Sanatan Dharma does not teach anyone to keep other religions away: Kamal Nath

Bhopal: Senior Congress leader Kamal Nath on Friday said India is home to many religions and Sanatan Dharma does not teach anyone to keep other faiths away.

His statement comes a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi accused the opposition INDIA bloc of trying to "destroy" Sanatan Dharma. Speaking at events in poll-bound Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh on Thursday, the PM alleged that the newly-formed front of anti-BJP parties wants to erase Bharat as well as its rich culture of thousands of years.

Talking to reporters in Ashok Nagar town in Madhya Pradesh, Nath said, "All of us have accepted Sanatan Dharma. There is no need to tell anyone about it. There is no point in making someone understand that our country is a nation of Sanatan Dharma as there are other religions too. Sanatan Dharma never teaches anyone to keep other religions away." Tamil Nadu minister Udhayanidhi Stalin recently kicked up a row after he compared Sanatan Dharma with diseases like malaria and dengue, and called for its "eradication". Stalin's party DMK is a key constituent of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA), a grouping of more than two dozen anti-BJP outfits.