By IANS
New Delhi : The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Thursday smelt political opportunity in the government’s apparent faux pas over a judicial affidavit that said there was no historical evidence to prove the existence of Lord Ram. The BJP sought the government apology for “hurting the sentiments of millions of Hindus”.
Though the government said it would file a fresh affidavit in the Supreme Court, that was hearing a petition on the controversial Sethusamudram shipping canal project, BJP leader L.K. Advani quickly held a press conference to declare that the government as “anti-Hindu”. He said Congress President Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh should apologise to the community.
At a hastily convened press conference, Law Minister H.R. Bhardwaj regretted filing an affidavit with the controversial assertion and said the government would “amend its mistake” and file a fresh supplementary affidavit on Friday in the Supreme Court, omitting the reference to Lord Ram.
“Lord Ram is a matter of faith. It cannot be and should not be made the subject matter of any litigation,” Bhardwaj told reporters.
Congress sources said Gandhi has sought an explanation from the government over the references that have “hurt the sentiments” of the people and urged it to take remedial measures immediately.
Party insiders told IANS that an internal inquiry was already underway to pinpoint responsibility and identify specific persons from the culture ministry who briefed law officers in the case.
“Since the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) comes under the culture ministry, there will be questions as to whether the minister, Ambika Soni was aware of this brief,” said Congress sources.
In its affidavit on the Sethusamudram shipping channel, the ASI said there were no “historical records” to prove the existence of Lord Ram or the Ram Sethu (bridge).
The ASI’s affidavit earlier kicked off a major political controversy with the BJP convening an emergency meeting to pressurise the government to withdraw the controversial affidavit from the apex court.
The party has been protesting the Rs.24 billion-canal project that would see a navigational route through India’s west and east coasts, saying that it would damage the bridge that Hindus believe was build by Lord Ram millennia ago.
He held Sonia Gandhi personally responsible for this. “Formally the prime minister but actually the Congress president is responsible. We don’t accept their plea that the Congress president is angry therefore they are submitting a counter-affidavit. This is a false tactic.”
Advani spoke to newsmen Thursday after presiding over a meeting of the office- bearers of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at the party headquarters on the issue of the Archaeological Society of India (ASI) affidavit in the Supreme Court denying the historical existence of Ram.
He said he had tried to speak to Manmohan Singh over phone Wednesday. But when he could not get across to him, he spoke to his media adviser Sanjaya Baru and asked him to convey the hurt feelings of the Hindus to the Prime Minister.
Threatening a nationwide agitation by the party’s youth wing, Advani also demanded immediate withdrawal of the affidavit and added, “I have heard that they have said they will give a supplementary,” but dismissed it saying, “Supplementing is not the same as withdrawing it.”
He also demanded “an inquiry panel to fix the ministerial responsibility for this blunder.”
Lastly, he sought a guarantee that “Ram Setu must be protected by redesigning the Sethusamudram (shipping canal) project.”
Law Minister Bharadwaj said the new affidavit would be personally scrutinised by Law Secretary T.K. Vishvananthan in consultation with Additional Solicitor General Gopal Subramaniam. He said he would personally clear the affidavit before it is submitted to the apex court, implying that the earlier affidavit had not received high-level scrutiny.
According to Congress sources, the party leadership wanted to find out how the government allowed such a reference on a sensitive issue to be included in the affidavit at a time when the right wing forces were already on the warpath over the sea channel project.
“The party has to find out how did the government allow such a goof up when the possibility of a general election is looming over it?” asked a Congress MP.
The Communist Party of India (CPI) general secretary, D Raja said the BJP was trying to make heavy weather of nothing.
“The BJP has no other issue on this country and has gone to sea to trying to fish for communal issues in the Indian Ocean and the Bay of Bengal,” Raja said.
Advani said, “The BJP deems the UPA government’s anti-Hindu act to be a very grave development in the political and social history of India. I would like to warn the leadership of the Congress party and the government that, unless corrective action is taken immediately, it will face a massive sustained and peaceful protest action all over the country. The BJP will participate in this agitation in full force,” said the former home minister.