Seeking to soften the criticism against his anti-Ram remarks, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam chief M Karunanidhi on Tuesday said he had nothing against Ram as a "human prince" and said even late Rajaji, who authored a book on the Ramayana, did not attach any divinity to him.
"I have nothing against Ram and will welcome the good work done by him," he said. Karunanidhi was responding to Tamil superstar Rajinikanth's remark that he should initiate efforts to talk to North Indian politicians to find an amicable solution to the Ram Sethu issue while distributing the Tamil Nadu film awards for 2005 and 2006.
"In the foreword of his book Chakravarty Thirumagan, (Son of an Emperor), Rajaji said that Ramayana was an epic and not history. He described Ram as a human prince who did good work for society," he said and asked people to differentiate between epic and history.
Rajinikanth has always been a believer and one of his Tamil films Baba shows the protagonist scaling the Himalayas to meet a guru revered by the actor.
Karunanidhi said the BJP government headed by A B Vajpayee implemented the Sethu Samudram project and then BJP ministers, including S Thirunavukkarasar had cleared it.
"Be it the DMK, AIADMK or the Left parties, all have mentioned in their poll manifestos that the project would lead to the development of the state," he said.
Karunanidhi asked Rajinikanth to talk to his "saint friends" in North India and convince them that the project would put the state on the path of development and therefore they should not protest against it. He said the project was envisaged by the British, later dropped, and former chief ministers like C N Annadurai and K Kamaraj also tried to give life to it.
The chief minister said it would augur well for the state as well as the national economy and there "should be no obstacles in the name of religion or others".
"It is just a project like Bhakra Nangal or any other," he said adding that 75 per cent of work was complete.