By IANS
Chennai : Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi Sunday refused compromise on the Sethusamudram Shipping Canal Project but said the issue will not affect his DMK’s ties with the Congress even as his party workers attacked the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) office here following a ‘death threat’ to him.
“Give us the Sethusamudram Ship Canal and the matter ends,” Karunanidhi told the media here.
The DMK party has insisted on the project to shorten the navigation route by dredging a coral reef known as Ram Sethu or Adam’s bridge. The BJP and several Hindu groups have opposed the project, saying it will destroy Ram Sethu, which they believe was built by Lord Ram.
Arguing for the project, Karunanidhi this week made some controversial remarks on Lord Ram. In response, Ram Vilas Vedanti, a former BJP MP, reportedly said saints in Ayodhya will “weigh in gold” anyone who beheads the octogenarian Tamil politician.
“I do not have any comment to make on it,” Karunanidhi said when queried about Vedanti’s call.
While the BJP has said it would accept the project if its alignment was changed to protect Ram Sethu, Karunanidhi maintained: “It is for the engineers to decide on any realignment.” He insisted that engineers had said the canal could not be realigned.
The demand for the Sethusamudram canal will continue, Karunanidhi promised, insisting that his interest was only to ensure implementation of the project, now stayed by the Supreme Court.
His stance on the issue was at variance with that of the Congress, which leads the United Progressive Alliance (UPA).
But when asked if the controversy would affect the UPA government, of which the DMK is a part, Karunanidhi said: “Our relations with the Congress are as good as ever, and don’t worry, nothing will happen (in spite of the DMK-BJP spat).”
Earlier in the day, Vedanti in a letter to the BJP leadership claimed that he was misquoted in his remarks on Karunanidhi, but the party distanced itself from his clarification.
Union Shipping Minister T.R. Baalu of DMK wrote a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh saying: “On behalf of the DMK Parliamentary Party, I appeal to the government to interfere forthwith and take immediate action so as to put an end to such unlawful, undemocratic provocative attitude of persons like Ram Vilas Vedanti, who is driven by religious fundamentalist forces.
“This barbarous and heinous threat on the life of our beloved leader has sent shock waves across the Tamil community.”
Angered by the threat to Karunanidhi, hundreds of DMK protestors threw stones at the BJP office and smashed cycles and scooters parked outside it in crowded T. Nagar in the heart of this Tamil Nadu capital earlier in the day and demanded immediate arrest of Vedanti.
The agitators also burnt effigies of Vedanti, described as a senior Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) man, and shouted anti-BJP slogans.
The DMK outfits, armed with black badges and flags, were led by Information Minister Parthi Ilamvazhuthi and Chennai Mayor M. Subramanian.
T. Thirumavalavan, leader of the Dalith Panthers of India, led a protest before the BJP office in Chennai and demanded ban on the VHP and the BJP.
A crowd also threw stones at Kamalaya, the BJP office in the city.
The DMK supporters threw empty bottles and stones at the Hindu Munnani office here and shouted death threats against Hindu Munnani founder Ramagopalan, who was inside the office.
Sources in the BJP and Hindu Munnani said they will submit a petition to Governor Surjit Singh Barnala to dismiss the DMK government in the state.
State party general secretary Tamilisai Soundararajan, who was inside the BJP office during the attack, alleged that several women members in the office were hurt in the attack.
“If this can happen to a national party’s headquarters in the heart of the city, you can guess what kind of law and order exists in the state,” he said.
There were reports of attacks on BJP offices in Chidambaram and several other places in the state.
The houses of BJP’s Tamil Nadu unit president H. Raja and his father-in-law were also attacked, allegedly by DMK workers, at Karaikudi in Sivaganga district. Windowpanes and some vehicles parked before the houses were damaged and the party flags destroyed.
Raja was not in the house. Reports said BJP men retaliated with stone throwing at the houses of DMK leaders in the neighbourhood.
The police said some DMK and BJP workers were taken into custody for the clashes.
On Saturday night, Karunanidhi loyalists at a meeting presided over by him did not mince words about what they would do to “anyone who dared to threaten our leader”.
Minister Arcot Veersamy said: “Unless this reckless north Indian, belonging to a barbaric outfit, seeks pardon immediately, I will personally lead my party cadres to picket all the BJP offices across Tamil Nadu.”
However, Veerasamy Sunday called for calm, following the attacks on the BJP offices even as BJP state vice-president G. Kumaravelu threatened legal action against him.