Chennai, Sep 3 : The BJP's Tamil Nadu vice president, Narayanan Thirupathy on Sunday said the DMK was a "communal political party which survives on a minority vote bank". He also said that the ruling party in Tamil Nadu "was like cancer which could be treated through the principles of Sanatana Dharma". The senior BJP leader was responding to the statement of DMK leader and Minister for Sports and Youth Affairs, Udhayanidhi Stalin. On Saturday, Udhayanidhi Stalin was speaking at a Sanatanam (Sanatan Dharma) Abolition Conclave organised by the Tamil Nadu Progressive Writers Forum. He said: "I thank the organisers for giving me the opportunity to speak at this conference to eradicate Sanatana Dharma. I congratulate the organisers for calling the conference as 'eradication of Santana dharma' instead of 'opposing Sanatana Dharma'. "There are certain things which we have to eradicate and we cannot merely oppose. Mosquitoes, dengue, corona and malaria are things which we cannot oppose, we have to eradicate them. Sanatanam is also like this. Eradication and not opposing Sanatanam has to be our first task," he added Reacting to this, Thirupathy in a post on social media platform X on Sunday said, 'This is not new for the DMK. For them good things are bad and bad things are good. Sanatana Dharma is eternal. DMK is a communal party that survives on the vote of Muslims and Christians. ' The BJP leadership has strongly retorted to the statement of Udhayanidhi Stalin and the party's IT cell head Amit Malaviya said, 'Udhayanidhi Stalin, son of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin and a minister in the DMK government has linked Sanatana Dharma to malaria and dengue. He is of the opinion that it must be eradicated and not merely opposed. In short, he is calling for genocide of 80% of Population of Bharath who follows Sanatana Dharma.' The BJP has also asked the opposition INDIA front of which DMK is a prominent member whether genocide of people believing in Sanatana Dharma was agreed upon in the Mumbai meeting. /IANS