Where is proof Ram built bridge, asks Karunanidhi

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Chennai, September 16: Though the Centre has decided to withdraw its controversial affidavits on the existence of Ram, expressing regret for hurting religious sentiments, the ruling DMK in Tamil Nadu has come down hard on “communal forces” for using the “myth” of Ram Sethu to stall the Sethusamudram project.

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Warning the Centre against succumbing to communal forces, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi, at a function in Erode on Saturday night, said: “Who is this Raman (as Lord Ram is referred to in Tamil)? In which engineering college did he study and become a civil engineer? When did he build this so-called bridge? Is there any evidence for this?”

“The withdrawal of the affidavits does not mean that the project is being withdrawn,” Karunanidhi told reporters at Yercaud near Salem. “If it amounts to the project itself being shelved, then the DMK, which adheres to scientific, rational and progressive ideals, will not accept it.”

On whether there was any difference of opinion between the DMK and Centre on the issue, he retorted: “The conflict is between us and communal elements. It is between us and dominant forces that are using superstitions of the people to stall the project and achieve their ends. It is not a conflict between us and the Union Government. Our stand is that the Centre should not succumb to these communal elements.”

At Erode, Karunanidhi said: “The latest attempt to stall the Sethusamudram project is by a group of jackals, conspirators and dangerous elements. Their objective is to subvert a major project that would usher in development in the southern parts of our state.”

In a resolution which he read out at the function, Karunanidhi warned the Government against giving up the project in the name of Ram Sethu. The Ramayana, he said, was only “a piece of fiction that allegorically represented the conflict between Aryans and Dravidians”.

The Tamil Nadu CM blamed “communal elements” and even Sri Lanka for stalling the project, “a long-cherished dream of Tamils”. “The opposition to the Sethusamudram project was an attempt to destroy the Dravidian movement,” he said. The Centre, he advised, should not be intimidated by threats from religious elements and delay a project that the Prime Minister and Congress chief Sonia Gandhi had agreed to implement.