New Delhi [India], January 3 : Political analyst Tehseen Poonawalla has slammed Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan for his alleged remarks against Sanatan Dharma, saying that the people with a leftist mindset are suffering from a "mental disease" of Sanatan Dharma phobia.
"There is a new mental disease that is spreading in India, called SDPI. This is not the PFI-SDPI. This is 'Sanatan Dharma Phobia India," Tehseen Poonawalla told ANI.
"Most of the people who are affected by the SDPI (Sanatan Dharma Phobia India) are people with the leftist mindset," he added.
Poonawalla claimed that the Left has become increasingly irrelevant in the country, relegating to the Jawaharlal Nehru University canteen and Kerala.
"Hamas, which is addressing rallies in Kerala, that chief minister is talking about Sanatana Dharma not being aligned with democracy. Does this make any sense? That is why the people of India are fed up with this Leftist mindset. The Left is becoming increasingly irrelevant. They are relegated to the JNU canteen and Kerala. Very soon, Kerala will also be left, free from the left," he said.
Earlier on Tuesday, Vijayan, while addressing the Sivagiri Pilgrimage, stated that attempts to portray social reformer and saint Sree Narayana Guru as a proponent of Sanatana Dharma are nothing but the practice of caste-based Varnashrama Dharma.
"Sanatana Dharma is synonymous with or inseparable from 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?" the Kerala CM said.
"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.