Friday, December 7, 2007

Buddha questions the existence of Ram, says Setu natural


Zeenews BureauKolkata, Dec 07:
Adding fuel to the fire over the contentious Ram Setu issue, West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee said that there is no historical evidence of the existence of Lord Ram or Ram Setu. In a recent public function held in Kolkata on early Friday, to mark the 15th anniversary of Babri demolition, the Buddhadeb said, "Ram is the imagination of a poet. What is the Ram Setu controversy about? Why are they agitating over Ram Setu? Ram Setu is a natural formation in the sea. They are just trying to create a religious hysteria.” In his speech, the West Bengal CM blamed the BJP saying that it was using Ram Setu as tool to bring divisions in the society as a whole. Earlier, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and DMK patriarch, M Karunanidhi had questioned the existence of Lord Ram, which was followed by massive protests across India with mobs resorting to arson and even attacking his house in Bangalore. Ram Setu or Adam’s bridge is a chain of limestone shoals forming a link between Sri Lanka and India. The setu, which holds a sacred place in the heart of many Hindus, finds evidence in the ancient texts of Ramayana, which mentions that, Lord Ram and his army of monkeys built the setu to rescue Sita, who was abducted by King of Lanka, Ravana. The dredging of Ram Setu came into light when the Indian government gave its nod to the multi-million dollar Sethusamudram project, which requires breaking a portion of Ram Setu to make the routes navigable for ships around the Indian peninsula. Many organisations have stepped up the attack on the government over the breaking of the Setu citing religious and environmental grounds.
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Buddhadeb would not question the existence of Karl Marx, because he lived only a little more than 100 years ago. But so fast has Communism become irrelevant except in a few pocket boroughs around the world that this leader of one such pocket borough is clearly uncomfortable with a Rama of many thousand years ago being still relevant to over a billion people worldwide. - K.Venugopal

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