Chennai: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin strongly objected on Wednesday to Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s characterization of his state government as being anti-Hindu, questioning whether the BJP leader should be called “Amit Shah or Slander Shah,” reports claimed.
Addressing an event in Dindigul district where he inaugurated completed developmental works and laid foundations for new ones, Stalin said the allegations made by Shah during a recent visit to the state were “baseless” and unbecoming of the office he holds. Shah had said the DMK government was working to undermine Hindu religious beliefs and restrict the right to worship.
“During the recent visit, he had spoken as though Tamil Nadu is working to put an end to Hindu religious beliefs and the right to worship. I register my strongest condemnation for this. It seems that he is unaware of what is happening in Tamil Nadu. The Union home minister making such unfounded charges that Hindus are stripped of their rights is highly unbecoming of the office that he holds,”Stalin said, reported The Statesman.
Rejecting Shah’s claims, the chief minister highlighted his government’s work on Hindu religious institutions, noting that in the last four years more than 4,000 temples had been consecrated, and properties worth about Rs 7,071 crore covering 7,655 acres belonging to 997 temples that were under encroachment had been recovered. He also pointed to regular initiatives taken by the HR&CE (Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments) Department.
Stalin said the Dravidian model of governance respected all religions equally, protected their rights and earned appreciation from devotees and religious seers.
In a pivot to political strategy ahead of the 2026 Tamil Nadu assembly elections, the chief minister noted that Shah’s remarks had inadvertently posed a question on whether Tamil Nadu needed a Modi government. He said the real choice for voters in 2026 was whether the state should be governed by the DMK or by a party “from far removed Delhi.” Stalin asserted that it was unnecessary to explain that voting for the AIADMK alliance would lead to BJP rule, claiming that Shah himself had made such a point.
