Date:27/09/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/09/27/stories/2007092761891400.htm

National

Drop DMK Ministers, Rajnath tells PM

Manas Dasgupta

AHMEDABAD: Bharatiya Janata Party president Rajnath Singh on Wednesday demanded that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh drop all DMK ministers from his Cabinet until their leader and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi expressed a public apology for insulting Lord Ram and hurting the religious sentiments of Hindus.

Addressing a party workers’ convention here, Mr Singh said if the Prime Minister failed to take such a step, the people could safely conclude that hurting the religious sentiments of Hindus was a “joint conspiracy” of the Congress and the DMK. Pointing out that even Moghul rulers and the British never questioned the existence of Lord Ram, Mr. Singh regretted that such a question was raised during the Congress regime in independent India and the DMK chief had the guts to make derogatory remarks against Lord Ram calling his existence a “myth.”

Both he and Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha L.K. Advani, as well as Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, refused to believe the Congress version that the affidavit filed in the Supreme Court on Ramar Sethu was a “slip.” If the Congress did not believe in Lord Ram, how could it accept Mahatma Gandhi’s vision of a “Ram Rajya” by which it swore all the time, asked Mr. Singh.