Here is the kind of incident that can lead to an explosive situation when politics is mixed with religion and religion is used as the punching bag to achieve political and economic objectives.
DMK Chief and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi on Wednesday said there was no historic proof of Lord Ram's existence.
There was also no proof of Lord Ram having constructed a bridge and being an expert in engineering, he told a TV channel.
The Opposition BJP leader Mr. L.K. Advani addressing a press conference said he respected Mr. Karunanidhi’s right to be an atheist. But he should know that he had no right to show disrespect to Hinduism. Every citizen had a constitutional duty not to hurt the religious sentiments of any community. Being the Chief Minister of a State, Mr. Karunanidhi’s constitutional duty was even higher.
The central issue here is the Sethusamudram Shipping Canal Project which proposes linking the Palk Bay (sea between South India and Sri Lanka) and the Gulf of Mannar between India and Sri Lanka by creating a shipping canal through the shallow sea sometimes called Setu Samudram, and through the island chain of Rama's Bridge, also known as Adam's Bridge.
Due to shallow waters, Sethusamudram presents a formidable hindrance to navigation through the Palk strait. Though trade across the India-Sri Lanka divide has been active since at least the first millennium BCE, it has been limited to small boats and dinghies.
The Tamil Nadu government wants to carry out the dredging proposed in the Sethusamudram project to allow naviagation for larger ships which will bring tremendous economic benefit but a large Hindu majority object to it on religious grounds and the project has been put on hold.
According to the Hindu epic Ramayana, the islands were built by an army of monkeys to allow Ram to cross the Palk Strait that separates India and Sri Lanka and rescue his kidnapped wife.
A campaign by Hindus against the creation of a sea lane they say would destroy a sacred site rocked the Indian cabinet yesterday as ministers clashed over the now-suspended project.
In a report submitted to the Supreme Court, which is examining the project, the Culture Ministry said there was no proof the events described in the Ramayana ever took place or that the characters in the epic existed.
Meanwhile, Hindu nationalists in the northern state of Punjab burnt effigies of Sonia Gandhi, the Italian-born leader of the ruling Congress party.
"How would a Christian know about the Hindu religion?" cried protesters led by former Test player Navjyot Singh Siddhu, a Hindu nationalist MP.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has put on hold the half-billion-dollar plan to dredge sandy shoals in a strip of sea between India and Sri Lanka after Hindus objected, saying the formation was created by the God Ram.
This situation clearly demonstrates that although Indians do have freedom of speech, being a multi cultural and multi religious society, they must respect each other's faith and feelings. Unless cooler heads prevail incidents like this where passions run high, can very easily lead to deadly consequences.
Karunanidhi still maintains his stand. "You tell me whether Rama lived. I had only stated that there was no person in the name of Lord Ram. What is wrong in that?" he asked.
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