Divine architect
After the left nearly walked out of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government over the much-hyped civilian nuclear deal with the US, the beleaguered Congress managed only the smallest reprieve before another controversy erupted. Suddenly, there was the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), in the doldrums of late, waving its ever-ready flag of 'Hindu sentiment' over an issue that had been gift-wrapped and handed over by the Congress. This time, those fragile sentiments were said to have been hurt by the Centre's denial of the existence of the Hindu god Ram – revered, we are told, by more than 800 million Hindus.
Evidently, that very large number of Hindus does not include several venerable members of Tamil Nadu's political parties. On 10 September, on the basis of a petition filed by Janata Party president Subramaniam Swamy, who regarded the dredging of Adam's Bridge (Ram Sethu) as a desecration, the Supreme Court ordered a stay on any further scouring of the waterway between India and Sri Lanka. The following day, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi dismissed out of hand any notion that the Ram Sethu was built by Lord Ram, irately asking, "From which engineering college did he [Ram] graduate?" Even as mobs reacted against this supposed blasphemy by going on a rampage in which two were killed, Karunanidhi did not climb down. To add to the Congress's troubles, the left has also joined Karunanidhi in insisting that work on the project must continue.