Kamal Haasan Sanatan remarks stirred an immediate backlash from hard line Hindu groups.
He told a Chennai audience that “education is the only weapon that can break the chains of dictatorship and Sanatanam.”
Speaking at an Agaram Foundation event on Sunday, the Rajya Sabha member urged students to “hold on to education firmly,” warning that “a majority of fools will make you lose.”
Haasan’s critique landed at a moment when Sanatan Dharma is under renewed debate.
Last week, former Maharashtra minister Jitendra Awhad argued that atrocities stem from Sanatan’s caste hierarchy and insisted “we are followers of Hindu Dharma, not Sanatan Dharma.”
Haasan echoed that sentiment, framing education as the antidote to any ideology that enshrines social inequality.
Kamal Haasan Sanatan remarks: backlash from Hindutva camp, wider debate on exclusion
Within hours, right wing groups demanded an apology, claiming Sanatan Dharma is inseparable from Indian identity and crediting its rise to the current BJP-RSS dispensation.
Spokespersons charged that Haasan had insulted a faith tradition they say underpins national unity and growth.
Critics of Hindutva counter that the movement’s rhetoric excludes Muslims and Christians communities.
These communities have shared the subcontinent for a millennium by branding them “invaders.”
Haasan did not respond to the calls for retraction but closed his address with a broader definition of leadership:
“It’s about making change happen, even if your name fades away.”
His party, MNM, later said the speech reflected a constitutional vision of India that rejects caste oppression.
The row highlights a widening rift between proponents of a pluralist nationalism and supporters of a Sanatan-centred Hindutva ethos.
As debate rages online and on television panels, the Kamal Haasan Sanatan remarks have become a flashpoint in the larger question of whose identity—and whose history—defines modern India.
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