Senthilkumar, a professional radiologist, had lashed out at the executive engineer present at the ceremony and asked why a Hindu ritual was being conducted at a government ceremony. (Twitter/ @ani_digital)
Months after Udayanidhi Stalin stirred a row with his criticism of Sanatan Dharma, DMK Dharmapuri MP D N V Senthilkumar has dragged his party back into BJP line of fire, and INDIA alliance into hot waters, by referring to Hindi-speaking states as ‘gaumutra (cow urine) states’.
Speaking on the Jammu and Kashmir Reservation (Amendment) Bill, 2023, in the Lok Sabha, Senthilkumar, 46, said: “People of this country should think that the power of this BJP is only winning elections, and mainly in the heartland Hindi states, what we generally call the gaumutra states. (The BJP) cannot come to south India. You see all the results of what happens in Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andhra, Telangana and Karnataka. We are very strong there… You can never dream of setting foot there.”
On Tuesday evening, Senthilkumar issued an apology on social media. “ Commenting on the results of the five recent state Assembly elections, I have used a word in an inappropriate way. Not using that term with any intent. I apologise for sending the wrong meaning across,” he posted on X.
For Senthilkumar, who emerged as one of the DMK’s social-media savvy, new-generation leaders with his victory in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls from Dharmapuri, the gaumutra remark wasn’t even the first that rubbed the BJP the wrong way. In July 2022, he created a stir when he lambasted a senior government official for organising a ‘bhumi puja’ ceremony during the inauguration of a road project in Dharmapuri district.
Senthilkumar, a professional radiologist, had lashed out at the executive engineer present at the ceremony and asked why a Hindu ritual was being conducted at a government ceremony. “Do you know that you are not allowed to do such things for a government programme? Then? What about other faiths? Christians, Muslims, Dravida Kazhagams, or those without a religion? Call them all, call the father from the church, the imam from the masjid,” the visibly angry MP said before ordering officials to “clear it all”. He added, “Never contact me for such events … This is the Dravidian model of governance. Include all faiths if you are going to do such rituals.”
Some political observers at the time described Senthilkumar’s outburst as a calculated attempt to propagate and uphold the DMK’s rational-secular mix of politics, while others said the first-time MP, who had defeated former Union minister Anbumani Ramadoss in the 2019 election, had displayed political naivety.
A senior DMK leader told The Indian Express then that Senthilkumar’s method “seemed to be deliberate and staged”. The senior functionary said, “In theory, no government programme should coincide with a religious event. People can have a religion but governments do not have a religion. So I agree with his position. But the way he did it, especially as an MP, turned it into a social media spectacle. It wasn’t clever politics.”
The DMK leader added, “The personal value systems and beliefs of individuals sustain the Dravidian ideals practised in Tamil Nadu… No party can claim responsibility for the Dravidian customs of locals. People who oppose Hindutva politics and the BJP are also devout followers who do pujas and visit temples. Therefore, it is crucial for an MP to speak their language while advocating secularism.”
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DMK allies too had criticised Senthilkumar then. “Totally unwarranted outburst,” Congress leader Karti Chidambaram said on social media. “Tell me one wedding/house-warming/oath-taking ceremony of members of your party that has occurred without reference to auspicious times/ceremony? Dravidian extremes erroneously think that because people vote for them they negate all forms of rituals.”
BJP state secretary S G Suryah had said Senthilkumar’s outburst was “overboard and anti-Hindu”. He pointed out that in 2012, the Madras High Court had deliberated on the matter and ruled that ‘Ayudha Puja’, for instance, in government offices “does not affect the fabric of secularism”.
