Reacting to senior BJP leader L K Advani’s demand that he  retract his statement, made at Erode on September 15, Karunanidhi said his intention was not to hurt the sentiments of any community but only to see that the Sethusamudram project, which the Tamils had been dreaming of for nearly a century, is not derailed.
Karunanidhi had asked  whether Rama was an engineer who built the bridge in the Gulf of Mannar linking India and Sri Lanka.

He said Valmiki had described Rama as a drunkard (a reference to Somabanam or wine that kings of lore used to drink).

“Have I said anything like that?” he said. Quoting Jawaharlal Nehru  that the Ramayana was a mythological depiction of the war between Aryans and Dravidians and Rajaji, who had called the Ramayana and the  Mahabaratha mythologies,  Karunanidhi challenged Advani to a public debate on the issue.

Reacting to Advani’s taunt whether he considered the Centre, which had withdrawn the affidavit before the Supreme Court questioning the historicity of Rama and the Ramayana, was a party to the conspiracy by those opposing the Sethu project,  the Chief Minister said “we do not want the Centre to unwittingly fall into this trap”.

Asked if the DMK was willing for a change in alignment to the Sethu project so as not to disturb the Ramar Sethu, Karunanidhi replied: “We are not insisting that the Sethusamudram Canal   be built by destroying the Ramar Sethu.

“We only want the project to be completed for the welfare of the state.”

Meanwhile, the PM  called up Karunanidhi and expressed his concern over the attack on the house of his daughter Selvi in Bangalore, an official release said.

CONG UPSET OVER KARUNANDHI REMARKS
New Delhi, DHNS: The Congress is caught between the devil and the deep sea with party ally DMK’s chief M Karunanidhi continuing with his controversial remarks on Ram which the Sonia Gandhi-led Congress party is finding unpalatable but has been forced to swallow for the sake of coalition politics.

The DMK chief’s comments regarding the existence of Ram have put Congress in a piquant situation as the party is finding it more and more difficult to remain silent on the ticklish issue, particularly as it knows it would have to ultimately make its position clear in the face of BJP’s increasing counter-attack on the issue.

Highly-placed party sources said the high command had sought to convey through emissaries to the DMK chief and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister to refrain from making such comments but had not succeeded so far. “He is thinking about his own politics within the confines of Tamil Nadu, but we have to think of our all-India politics. Why should he be making such unnecessary and provocative comments at a time when we have just been able to overcome the Ramar Sethu affidavit controversy,” a senior AICC leader said. The sources said the party high command has taken note of the matter but was not able to decide how to make Karunanidhi understand without harming coalition interests.