Overview

• Jitendra Awhad has insisted that Sanatan Dharma is a perverted ideology that never existed as a formal religion and blamed it for denying coronation to Shivaji Maharaj and persecuting reformers like B.R. Ambedkar and Jyotirao Phule.
• BJP’s Ram Kadam and Sambit Patra accused Awhad of an incomplete study of scriptures and alleged he defamed Sanatan Dharma to win minority votes.
• Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Nirupam called the remarks “unfortunate” and defended Sanatan Dharma as the enduring root of India’s cultural identity.
• Awhad and senior Congress figure Prithviraj Chavan have revived terms such as “Sanatani terrorism” and “Hindu terrorist,” challenging the earlier ‘saffron terror’ narrative.
• The dispute, triggered by the acquittal of seven in the 2008 Malegaon blast case, has reignited debates over religious identity, caste‐based oppression and narrative framing ahead of elections.