From the nuclear deal to the existence of Ram — the political debate in the capital swiftly changed gears today after the Centre’s affidavit in the Supreme Court that mythological texts can’t be treated as “historical record.” Leader of Opposition L K Advani asked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to immediately withdraw the affidavit claiming it was tantamount to “questioning the faith of millions of Indians.”

Talking to The Indian Express, Advani said he had communicated to the Prime Minister that there is “bound to be a strong reaction” to the affidavit. “Law Minister H R Bharadwaj told me his Ministry had nothing to do with the affidavit as the ASI comes under the Ministry of Culture,” Advani said. He met the PM and Bharadwaj at a dinner hosted for the visiting Bulgarian PM.

“I told the PM that this single statement will have sharp reaction and the affidavit is unimaginable,” said Advani, “I suggested immediate remedial reaction to the government and that was to withdraw this objectionable affidavit.”

The Congress, however, confined itself to a defence of the project and said that it was under the NDA regime that the project had first begun. “The project plan was conceived by Vijay Goel during the NDA regime. Why were the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) or the Bajrang Dal silent then? We are only implementing the decision taken by the previous regime,” said AICC general secretary Digvijay Singh. Adding that since it was a “sensitive” subject, the government should take into consideration all available materials and facts.

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