Congress switches off MK's anti-Ram tirade

New Delhi: As the Ram Setu controversy has snowballed into a big political gambit for the Congress, the party has finally conveyed to its alliance partner, M Karunanidhi, not to push the issue further and hold his words on this sensitive issue.

Karunanidhi’s outburst against Lord Ram not only provided a lot of political fodder to the BJP but also ended up alienating the entire UPA coalition from a large Hindu voter base, for whom Ram is close to heart.

Realising the potential damage and the possibility of Hindu hardliners hijacking the entire issue to mobilise mass support in the northern states, the Congress leadership dialed up Karunanidhi and put in a humble request to refrain from making such remarks.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh also called up the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister on Thursday in connection with this issue. While the PM called MK to express his concern over the attack on his daughter's house in Bangalore, the idea was to pacify the DMK leader and pre-empt any worsening of the situation.

Clearly, the Congress now wants no further mention of Ram Setu in political talk. Party spokesman Abhishek Singhvi said as much on Friday: “On the sensitive issue of Ram Setu, the less said the better.”

Singhvi made it clear that the Congress had already adopted this approach. “If you look at the Congress statements and that of others, you will see the difference,” he pointed out.

He maintained that his party’s views on the existence of Lord Ram remain unchanged though there were divergent opinions expressed on the issue by its constituents in the ruling UPA.

“There is no change in the stand of the Congress Party. We have already articulated it before you,” Singhvi said. “It is for others to decide if they share our view that it is an issue of personal belief.”

Dr Singhvi's reiteration of the Congress stand on the Ram Setu issue came in response to a question on CPI(M) General Secretary Prakash Karat backing the stand of DMK Chief and Tamil Nadu Chief M Karunanidhi that there was no scientific evidence to prove the existence of Lord Ram and that the Ram Setu was a man-made structure.

He said a mistake had crept into the affidavit filed before the Supreme Court by the government on Ram Setu. But it was corrected immediately.

Asked if divergent views expressed by UPA constituents on the existence of Lord Ram would adversely affect the government at the centre, Dr Singhvi said: “Each person is entitled to his views.”