By IANS
New Delhi : The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Friday reiterated its demand for the resignation of Culture Minister Ambika Soni over a government affidavit that challenged the existence of Hindu god Ram.
Refusing to forgive the United Progressive Alliance (UPA), BJP spokesman Prakash Jawadekar said the minister should go because the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), which came to the offending conclusion that formed part of the offending affidavit, fell under her ministry.
He also reiterated the demand for an apology from the Congress and a halt to all work on the Sethusamudram shipping canal in the sea dividing India and Sri Lanka.
The canal, many say, could damage the Adam’s Bridge, which Hindus believe to be the Ram Sethu described in the epic Ramayana.
Leaders of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and also former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Uma Bharti are keeping up the tempo against the contents of the now withdrawn affidavit as well as the canal.
BJP leader L.K. Advani had Thursday demanded withdrawal of the affidavit and blamed Congress president Sonia Gandhi for it.
Uma Bharti, now heading her own Bharatiya Janshakti Party, has announced from Bhopal her intent to sit on a fast unto death, lodge a police complaint in Delhi and carry on a nationwide campaign to “restore the honour and prestige” of Ram.
VHP general secretary Praveen Togadiya said: “Withdrawing of the Ram Sethu affidavit is a triumph of Hindus. The Supreme Court has issued a three-month-long stay order against demolishing the Ram Sethu.”
In a statement in Ahmedabad, he declared: “The central government has accepted its error of judgment by withdrawing the offending affidavit. This is the effect of the Sep 12 countrywide chakka jam (road blockade) pressure.”