Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan remarked on Tuesday that social reformer Narayana Guru should not be viewed as a proponent of Sanatana Dharma, sparking criticism from the Bharatiya Janata Party, The Indian Express reported.

Sanatana Dharma is a term some people use as a synonym for Hinduism.

At a conference held as part of the Sivagiri pilgrimage, Vijayan said that Guru upheld a secular humanistic worldview, challenged the varnashrama system and reconstructed Sanatana Dharma.

The varnashrama system is a system of social stratification rooted in Hindu scriptures that divides society into priests, warriors and rulers, merchants and farmers, and servants, and prescribes duties for each of them. It is related to the caste system, which is a more rigid and region-specific system of stratification.

Vijayan on Tuesday argued that any attempts to confine Narayana Guru to the framework of Sanatana Dharma would be an insult to him.

“How can Narayana Guru, who propagated the concept of ‘One Caste, One Religion, One God’, be an advocate of Sanatana Dharma?” the Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader asked. “There is an attempt to depict social reformer Guru as a religious leader and religious sanyasin [ascetic].”

The Bharatiya Janata Party, however, asked if Vijayan could question other religions in a similar vein, The Times of India reported. “Will Vijayan dare to pass such comments on the Holy Quran or any other faith?” BJP leader and former Union minister V Muraleedharan asked.

Muraleedharan said that the chief minister’s statement was a continuation of Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam leader Udhayanidhi Stalin’s stand that Sanatana Dharma should be eradicated.

“Is Kerala becoming a platform for communist and extremist propaganda?” Muraleedharan wrote on X. “Insulting the Mahabharata is unacceptable.”

In a similar vein, BJP spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla alleged that insulting Sanatana Dharma had become the identity of Left parties and the Opposition INDIA coalition. “This is a well thought-out attempt at vote bank politics,” he told ANI. “In order to appease the Muslim vote, Hindu faith is being constantly abused.”