Even as West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee tried to firefight on his statement on Lord Ram and Ram Sethu on Thursday, VHP leader Praveen Togadia on Saturday demanded an apology from the Chief Minister for disregarding Ram.

Bhattacharjee, in a statement today, said that his remarks were taken out of context by a section of the media. He said he had merely quoted lines from Rabindranath Tagore’s Bhasha O Chhanda, which meant “the poet’s mind is the birth place of Ram more real than Ayodhya”. He had quoted this while observing the 15th anniversary of the demolition of the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya. The Chief Minister had also said that the Ram Sethu is a natural formation.

On Saturday, while addressing a rally in Kolkata to mobilise support against the Sethu Samudram project, Togadia lashed out at Bhattacharjee saying that he is responsible for Singur and Nandigram and “must not insult Hindus” by commenting on Ram.

“If Ram is imaginary, then Lord Buddha, after whom the CM is named, also did not exist and hence he should have his first name changed,” Togadia said. The VHP leader also took potshots at CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury and DMK chief M Karunanidhi, saying that they must change their names which clearly illustrate the belief of their forefathers in Ram.

Togadia said that even the Muslim rulers and the British did not question the faith of the Hindus and the CPI(M) leaders and Union Government were trying to deny the existence of Ram.

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