By IANS
New Delhi : Internal troubles in the ruling Congress intensified Monday with another senior leader seeking Culture Minister Ambika Soni’s resignation over the controversial Ram Sethu affidavit in the Supreme Court. Soni has already expressed her willingness to quit if the party leadership wanted her to.
After junior minister Jairam Ramesh two days back suggested that Soni step down for the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) affidavit, which submitted to the Supreme Court there was no historical or scientific proof that Lord Ram or the Ram Sethu existed, senior Congress leader R.K. Dhawan said Soni should have owned up moral responsibility for the fiasco and put in her papers.
Responding to Janata Party chief Subramanian Swamy’s petition seeking national monument heritage status for the Ram Sethu (Adam’s Bridge), a chain of limestone shoals that lies between Rameswaram in Tamil Nadu and Mannar in Sri Lanka, the ASI submitted to the Supreme Court there was no scientific basis or rationale behind his demand.
The ASI affidavit has proved fodder for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led right wing’s cannons against the $24 billion-Sethusamudram canal project. The BJP and its associate organisations say the project would damage the Ram Sethu, believed to have been built by Lord Ram and his army of monkeys to cross over to Lanka to rescue his abducted wife Sita from demon king Ravana.
Although two ASI officials were suspended for the affidavit, the internal wrangles in the Congress over the issue are surfacing.
Senior party leader Digvijay Singh and Salman Khurshid have spoken in support of Soni, who has claimed the ASI officials did not make the changes she had suggested in the affidavit.
Meanwhile, a section of the Congress argues it was “unfair” to point fingers at Soni alone as the affidavit was finally filed through the law ministry.
“ASI is a science department and what it has suggested is its findings. Why did the law ministry attach another statement, clearing the government’s position? The government could have said it would not agree with the ASI findings and sought time to resolve the issue,” said a senior Congress leader, who did not wish to be named.
“The law minister is also equally responsible for the fiasco,” the leader said, adding that the issue has turned out to be a “major political goof-up that will cost the party dear”.
The ASI has said the mythological texts like “Valmiki Ramayana”, the “Ramacharitmanas” by Tulsidas and others cannot be said to be historical records to incontrovertibly prove the existence of the characters or the occurrences of the events depicted in them.
Congress leaders also pointed out that the BJP, which emerged as a major political force with its Ramjanmabhoomi movement, would try to extensively cash in on the Ram Sethu issue.
“All those responsible for providing such an emotive issue to the BJP at a time when there is a possibility of general elections should be punished,” demanded the senior Congress leader.