Senior VHP leader and former BJP MP Ram Vilas Vedanti on Friday declared at a press conference that VHP saints of Ayodhya would weigh in gold anyone who beheaded Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi and cut out his tongue.

Speaking out against the BJP’s opposition to the Ram Sethu project, Karunanidhi had recently questioned the existence of Lord Ram and said that Valmiki described him as a drunkard.

“We will follow the commandments of our religion and nobody can stop us,” said Vedanti. He said the VHP would file a complaint and a lawsuit against Karunanidhi in Ayodhya.

Vedanti’s statement has got the endorsement of the BJP and VHP units of Uttar Pradesh. Said Hridaya Narain Dixit, the spokesperson of the BJP’s Uttar Pradesh unit, “Karunanidhi has demeaned Lord Ram, and what Vedanti has said only reflects the sentiments of crores of people across the nation.”

VHP organisational secretary Trilokiji said he had not heard exactly what Vedanti said, but the VHP would not oppose Vedanti on anything he said against Karunanidhi for the comments on Lord Ram.

“This is because all Hindus of the country are one against Karunanidhi,” said Trilokiji.

Meanwhile, VHP leader Vishnu Hari Dalmiya said at a seminar in Gorakhpur that the UPA government’s insensitivity towards the religious feelings of the majority community had led to the Ram Sethu controversy. He said Ram Sethu was a unique structure and that studies had shown it was not man-made.

Dalmiya criticised Karunanidhi and the BJP for trying to derive political mileage from the issue.