John Kay, in ‘India -a History’, one very good book on Indian history that I have come across till date, says, “No society retains a more rewarding consciousness of the past than India’s. Legend and oral tradition, when credible, may be quite as reliable as authentic contemporary documentation.” If we see this way, Rama is very much a historic figure. All the sites associated with Rama remained almost same in majority of the stories written by many a famous poets starting from Valmiki’s Ramayana, Vyas’s Mahabharat, Kalidas’ Raghubans or even as late as Tulsidas’ Ramcharitmanas. Over the ages of efforts of those poets and philosophers Rama has become one of the most worshipped god as incarnation of Vishnu.

One may not believe the whole of the story, but then why should a person of repute such as Karunanidhi make a remark about Rama that hurts a huge number of Indian citizens who perpetuate the story of Rama as historical as well as religious: “Some say there was a person over 17 lakh years ago. His name was Ram. Do not touch the bridge constructed by him. Who is Ram? From which engineering college did he graduate? Is there any proof for this?” Further Karunanidhi declares Rama as one of the character in his stories. Is he shameless or crazy to have said that? I wish he could have created such a character. To be frank, I don’t know how good Karunanidhi was as a writer, though Cho Ramaswamy has used words such as idiotic and foolish for his remarks on Rama.

I don’t think such a remark can benefit him any way. Perhaps he might not bother about it, as he may not like to have politics at national level. But will his siblings stand by his statement? I am sure it is a statement of an oldman who lives in his own old world and don’t wish to change.

I had written about Ram Setu and advocated against the objections of BJP. But Karunanidhi’s divisive statement certainly hurt me and would have bitterly hurt many others too.

Karunanidhi through his political organ has already done a lot of harm to the national integrity. His younger heirs should dissuade him from doing any further till he is in chair. BJP must also not take political advantage from Karunanidhi’s statement. But will it?

I doubt after hearing its spokesman saying, “The Congress should come clean on Karunanidhi’s remarks, which are even more offensive than the affidavit itself. Raising questions about the college from where Lord Ram had acquired an engineering degree is not only insulting, but also a direct affront to the faith of Hindus. The BJP dares the Congress to clarify whether it approves or disapproves the stand taken by Karunanidhi.” BJP also questioned if Karunanidhi could make similar remarks about the characters of other faiths too. It smells a trouble for people at large and seems election is getting nearer.

Let the countrymen forget and forgive the old man. And Advani must stop creating more trouble.