BJP Slams Stalin’s Bihar Visit, Revives Row Over DMK’s Past Remarks on Biharis and Sanatana Dharma

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday launched a sharp attack on Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin, ahead of his participation in Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s Voter Adhikar Yatra in Bihar. The yatra, which aims to showcase opposition unity, will also see the participation of DMK parliamentary party leader Kanimozhi Karunanidhi.

Reviving past controversies, BJP leaders accused Stalin and his party of making “anti-Bihar” and “anti-Sanatana” remarks. Tamil Nadu BJP spokesperson Narayanan Tirupathi dared Stalin to reiterate such statements on Bihari migrants and Sanatana Dharma when he takes the stage in Bihar.

“I challenge the Chief Minister: will you repeat your son Udhayanidhi’s remark that ‘Sanatana Dharma must be destroyed’? Will you boldly restate DMK MP Dayanidhi Maran’s comment that Biharis clean toilets in Tamil Nadu?” Tirupathi asked, adding a rhetorical jibe: “Aren’t you the lion of the Dravidian model? Let’s see you say it.”

Former BJP state president K. Annamalai also weighed in, sharing a series of clips on X highlighting past remarks by DMK leaders mocking people from Bihar. “Hope Stalin proudly repeats every one of those insults in front of the very people he and his party ridiculed,” Annamalai said.

The criticism was echoed by Bihar’s Janata Dal (United). Party leader Abhishek Jha condemned Gandhi’s decision to invite Stalin, stating: “Rahul-ji has called Stalin sahab, who made derogatory comments about Hindu mythology, and Revanth Reddy, who questioned the DNA of Biharis. How can Tejashwi Yadav expect support when he is flanked by such leaders?”

DMK’s Contentious History with North Indian States

The DMK has long positioned itself as the flagbearer of Tamil pride and Dravidian identity, often contrasting southern distinctiveness with what it views as northern cultural and political imposition. The party has consistently opposed the promotion of Hindi as a national language and has criticised migration from states such as Uttar Pradesh and Bihar into Tamil Nadu.

Over the years, several DMK leaders have made controversial statements stereotyping migrant workers from the North as unskilled, backward, or culturally incompatible. Former party president M. Karunanidhi in 2010 described the influx of migrants from Bihar and UP as a “cultural invasion.” In 2017, Stalin himself remarked that the lack of opportunities in northern states had forced large-scale migration to Tamil Nadu, portraying the phenomenon as evidence of northern “backwardness.”

Other DMK leaders have also courted controversy. In 2018, SK Thamizharasan described migrants from UP and Bihar as a “kiss of death” for Tamil Nadu’s culture and economy. During the COVID-19 lockdown, Udhayanidhi Stalin faced criticism for appearing to mock migrant workers who left Tamil Nadu, suggesting their departure reflected weakness and a lack of commitment.

A Flashpoint Ahead of Bihar Polls

Stalin’s presence at the Voter Adhikar Yatra—alongside Rahul Gandhi and other opposition leaders—is now being used by the BJP to revive these past remarks as a political weapon in election-bound Bihar. The controversy underscores the BJP’s strategy of leveraging regional sensitivities, particularly around cultural pride and migrant issues, to counter opposition unity.