Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi on Saturday launched a virulent attack on Lord Ram and Hindu “fundamentalists” who he said were trying to scuttle the Rs 2,400-crore Sethusamudram project on the specious ground that it would lead to the demolition of the “so-called” Ramar Sethu.

Speaking at a public meeting at Erode to commemorate the birth anniversary of Dravidian partriarch “Periyar” E V Ramasamy and DMK founder C N Annadurai, the CM said that perhaps acting in concert with Sri Lanka (which would stand to lose if the project was implemented), the opponents of the project had invented an epic figure called Ram  “who is supposed to have built a bridge 17 lakh years ago”.

He asked: “Who is this Ram? From which engineering college did he get the engineering degree? Where is the proof that the bridge was built by him?”

He said the whole conspiracy was aimed at exploiting religious sentiments and to scuttle development of Tamil Nadu.

At his behest, the meeting adopted a resolution asking the Centre not to succumb to pressure from Hindu fundamentalists.

Karunanidhi’s protest closely followed the Centre’s withdrawal of its affidavit which not only questioned the historicity of the Ramar Sethu but also the Ramayana. The Supreme Court is hearing a batch of writ petitions, including that of Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy, pleading for alternate alignments in the Palk Bay to execute the project so that the bridge could be saved.