PM, Sonia should apologise to Hindus: Advani

New Delhi, Sep 13: The BJP today demanded Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi to apologise for hurting the religious sentiments of the Hindus, globally by questioning the very existence of Lord Rama in an affidavit filed before the Supreme Court.



He said Union Law Minister Hans Raj Bhardwaj had spoken of filing a supplementary affidavit but it will not suffice.

''The government must immediately withdraw the affidavit filed before the apex court yesterday. An inquiry panel should be set up to fix ministerial responsibility for the blunder,'' Mr Advani said.

He said even at the height of Ayodhya movement no government had taken such a ''bizzare stand'' in the name of secularism.

''Those who opposed construction of a temple at Ram Janmabhoomi did ask how can you prove that Lord Rama was born here?. But none questioned the very existence of the Lord.'' The senior BJP leader said it would be naive to believe that the affidavit filed before the highest court of the land by the Archaeological Survey of India was the decision of the Department.

''It was a well considered decision involving the Prime Minister and the Congress President and nobody can dupe us on this. They must apologise to the people for their actions,'' he demanded.

Alleging the UPA Government was trying to trigger an inter-faith conflict by denying the existence of Lord Ram and the epic Ramayana ''despite a large number of evidences,'' BJP president Rajnath Singh said his party would support the move of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Shiv Sena for spearheading countrywide movement against the government's latest effort to ''denigrate the holy epic.'' ''The government should withdraw the affidavit and tender an apology to the people for making derogatory statements against the 'Ramcharitmanas' and other historical facts of the Ramayana,'' Mr Singh told mediapersons in Agartala.

The party's Parliamentary Party Spokesman Vijay Kumar Malhotra, demanding an apology from the ruling Congress and UPA parties, said that if they did not believe in the existence of the mythological characters, they should stop attending 'Ramlila' and Dussehra festivals, which witnessed the participation of millions across the country.

Renowned spiritual leader and founder of the Art of Living Foundation Sri Sri Ravi Shankar also denounced the affidavit stating that there was no historical evidence to establish existence of the characters in the Ramayana.

In a statement issued from Germany, he noted that Ramayana and Mahabharata are called 'Itihas'. 'Itihas' means it happened. This means that Sri Ram did exist as recorded in the Ramayana. The ancient seers had made clear distinction between Puranas and Itihas.

Puranas are mythological, symbolic stories and Itihas are that which actually happened.'' AIADMK Supremo J Jayalalithaa also urged the Centre to implement the Sethusamudram Shipping canal Project(SSCP) without demolishing the 'Ramsethu'.

In a statement here, she said the Centre should implement the project by choosing an alternative design in stead of demolishing the bridge.

The three-hour countrywide 'Chakka Jam' called by the VHP to protest the move to demolish the mythical Ramasethu to make way for the SSCP yesterday had thrown life out of gear in many parts of the country.

Activists of the BJP and other Hindu organisations came out in full support of the agitation. Thousands of agitators were arrested across the country.

Though the protests remained by and large peaceful, they were marked by sporadic violence in Haryana, Madhya Pradesh and Jharkhand where police fired in the air and resorted to lathicharge to disperse the demonstrators.

UNI