VZCZCXYZ0021
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHCG #0605/01 2710950
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 280950Z SEP 07
FM AMCONSUL CHENNAI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 1248
INFO RUEHCG/ALL SOUTH AND CENTRAL ASIA COLLECTIVE
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC

UNCLAS CHENNAI 000605 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV IN
SUBJECT: RELIGIOUS MONKEY BUSINESS ROILS INDIAN WATERS, POLITICAL 
AND REAL 
 
¶1.  (SBU) SUMMARY:  Political tempers have flared in the southern 
Indian state of Tamil Nadu as a canal project off the state's coast 
has turned into an unlikely source of political and religious 
controversy.  The long-proposed Sethusamudram project will dredge a 
passage through the Palk Strait between India and Sri Lanka, 
allowing ships to pass through the canal rather than making the 
lengthier trip around Sri Lanka.  Hindu groups believe the dredging 
project will destroy a bridge built the Hindu god Ram's army of 
monkeys (the bridge is known as the "Ram Setu" to Hindus).  The 
project, and opposition to it, had long been a local Tamil Nadu 
matter, but it leapt into the national political debate when the 
government filed a controversial affidavit in a court case which was 
construed as negating the existence of Ram - one of the most revered 
gods in Hinduism.  Although the government quickly withdrew the 
affidavit, a heated exchange ensued with the project's strongest 
backer, the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu "insulting Hindu religious 
sentiment," a Hindu leader suggesting that the Chief Minister should 
be beheaded for blasphemy, and followers of the Chief Minister 
responding by attacking offices of the BJP and Hindu political 
organizations in Tamil Nadu.  The net political effect of the 
controversy is so far unclear.  END SUMMARY. 
 
HINDU NATIONALISTS OPPOSE PROPOSED SHIPPING CANAL 
--------------------------------------------- ----- 
 
¶2.  (SBU) In 2001, under the previous BJP-led coalition, the 
government of India approved the Sethusamudram Project.  According 
to the canal's proponents, it will save ships sailing between 
India's east and west coasts 420 nautical miles and more than thirty 
hours of sailing time.  The government of Tamil Nadu has been 
strongly committed to the project.  Tamil Nadu political figures 
regularly refer to the Sethusamudram project as the "one hundred 
fifty year dream of the Tamil people" (a reference to the fact that 
the canal was first proposed in 1860 during the British Raj). 
 
¶3.  (SBU) Opposition to the project surfaced soon after the 2001 
approval.  Environmental advocates objected on the grounds that the 
dredging would harm the area's sensitive marine ecology and make the 
coastline more susceptible to damage from tsunamis.  Others argued 
that the project would wash away the area's significant mineral 
resources, including a major thorium deposit.  And two locally-based 
Hindu activists initiated separate lawsuits arguing that the 
dredging would destroy the sandy shoal they believe to be an 
important religious site described in the Hindu epic story the 
Ramayana known as the Ram Setu (Ram's bridge).  The shoal, they 
believe, is the remnant of the bridge built by Ram's army of monkeys 
so that Ram could cross to Sri Lanka to rescue his wife Sita from 
the demon Ravan.  (NOTE:  Of the pantheon of Hindu deities, Ram is 
one of the most important from a contemporary political perspective. 
 The BJP and affiliated Hindu nationalist groups known as the Sangh 
Parivar mobilized their followers in the 1990s around another 
Ram-related issue.  They believed Babri Masjid in Uttar Pradesh 
occupied the site of Ram's birthplace and stormed it to make way for 
the construction of a new Ram temple.  Analysts believe the Babri 
Masjid controversy in 1992-1993 marked the beginning of the BJP's 
ascent to power by the end of the decade.  END NOTE.) 
 
GOVERNMENT DEFENDS PROJECT; OFFENDS HINDUS 
------------------------------------------ 
 
¶4.  (SBU) The Sethusamudram Project received little media attention 
as the lawsuits made their way through the judicial system, but the 
issue leapt onto the national stage on September 12 when the 
Archaeological Survey of India filed an affidavit in the Indian 
Supreme Court in response to the lawsuits filed against the dredging 
process.  The affidavit said the Ramayana "cannot be said to be 
historical record to incontrovertibly prove the existence of the 
characters, or the occurrence of events depicted therein."  This 
statement was explosive; many took it as a negation of the existence 
of Ram.  A journalist told post that it was "like the U.S. 
government filing an affidavit saying Jesus didn't exist."  The 
Congress-led national coalition government quickly withdrew the 
affidavit seeking to quell the controversy. 
 
DMK CHIEF MINISTER CALLS RAM A "BIG LIE," A HINDU 
THREATENS CHIEF MINISTER, DMK ATTACKS BJP HEADQUARTERS 
--------------------------------------------- ---------- 
 
¶5.  (SBU) But the controversy only heated up when Tamil Nadu Chief 
Minister M. Karunanidhi gave a speech mocking the possibility that 
Ram built the Ram Setu.  Karunanidhi the leader of regional DMK 
party, which is a critical partner in the Congress-led UPA coalition 
government in New Delhi, went even further on September 20 when he 
said "Ram is a big lie."  In the same interview, Karunanidhi added 
fuel to the fire saying Valmiki, the author of the Ramayana, had 
himself called Ram a "drunkard." 
 
¶6.  (SBU) Karunanidhi's comments caused widespread condemnation 
including reports from Ayodhya on September 21 that former BJP 
 
member of parliament Ram Vilas Vedanti said "anyone beheading 
Karunanidhi would be weighed in gold by the saints of Ayodhya." 
Vedanti quickly backtracked saying on September 23 that he did not 
make the statement against Karunanidhi but rather was only quoting 
religious texts on the punishment for blasphemy.  Nonetheless, 
reports that Vedanti had threatened Karunanidhi enraged the 
octogenarian Chief Minister's supporters in Tamil Nadu.  DMK 
activists attacked BJP offices in Tamil Nadu on September 25, 
damaging them and injuring some BJP party members.  The DMK-led 
ruling coalition in Tamil Nadu called for a statewide general strike 
on October 1 to protest "communal" forces efforts' to halt the 
project and to urge its quick implementation. 
 
WHO BENEFITS POLITICALLY? 
------------------------- 
 
¶7.  (SBU) S. Gurumurthy, a close friend and adviser to BJP 
Opposition Leader LK Advani, told post that the Ram Setu issue -- 
especially Karunanidhi's comments against Ram -- is creating a 
"tectonic shift" in the Indian political environment in favor of the 
BJP.  Gurumurthy is a radical proponent of Hindutva (NOTE:  Hindutva 
literally means "Hinduness" and used to describe right-wing Hindu 
nationalist ideology that is often associated with anti-Muslim 
sentiment.  Gurumurthy, for example, described the Koran as 
"neurotic" and said though "the United States certifies Islam as a 
peaceful religion with more than a billion adherents, all it takes 
is 100,000 of those Muslims to set the world on fire."  END NOTE.) 
He told us that insensitivity to Hindu sentiment on the part of 
Congress and its allies will drive Hindus to vote against those 
parties, especially in north India.  We mentioned that the BJP is 
weak in south India, especially in Tamil Nadu, and has been 
unsuccessful in the past in whipping up communal sentiment. 
Gurumurthy responded that things are changing even in Tamil Nadu and 
Karunanidhi could not get away with so blatantly insulting Ram. 
 
¶8.  (SBU) Kanimozhi, daughter of Chief Minister Karunanidhi and DMK 
member of parliament, seemed unconcerned.  Although she acknowledged 
spending a lot of time fielding calls from anxious coalition 
partners, Kanimozhi said "Congress should be worried" up in the 
north because this type of issue sells there.  But "things here are 
different" she said, because of Tamil Nadu has a long history of 
permitting people to question religious beliefs.  She said the Ram 
Setu issue could actually play to the DMK's advantage by 
consolidating anti-northern sentiment among Tamils in favor of the 
party.  Suggesting continued agitation from the DMK in favor of the 
project, Kanimozhi told us "Congress wants to go slow on Ram Setu 
but we can't let that happen."  She quickly followed by saying that 
despite the controversy surrounding Ram Setu and the U.S.-India 
civil nuclear initiative, Congress and the DMK are together. 
 
¶9.  (SBU) Peter Alphonse, a Congress member of the state legislative 
assembly, told us the Ram Setu controversy worried the national 
Congress Party.  He said the party's poor reaction to the crisis is 
a consequence of fear and confusion.  Alphonse noted that the 
northern wing of the Congress party has a substantial number of 
members who practice "soft Hindutva" and for whom the Ram Setu issue 
and Karunanidhi's comments are particularly troubling.  That said, 
Alfonse was not overly concerned because he said feelings over the 
issue will dissipate with the passage of time.  "It might require us 
to postpone elections by two to three months" but he did not expect 
it to hurt the party. With respect to the impact of Ram Setu in 
Tamil Nadu, Alfonse was dismissive.  He said, "people are less 
religious in Tamil Nadu than in the north.  It won't be such an 
issue here."  Alfonse also said controversies like Ram Setu are 
associated with the hardline hindutva of BJP's LK Advani, who 
Alphonse said is very unpopular in Tamil Nadu. 
 
COMMENT:  WITH EARLY ELECTIONS POSSIBLE THE 
DMK TO CHANGE THE SUBJECT AWAY FROM RELIGION 
--------------------------------------------- 
 
¶10.  (SBU) COMMENT:  If the UPA/Left split over the U.S.-India civil 
nuclear initiative leads to early elections, the UPA has nowhere to 
go but down in Tamil Nadu as the UPA partners, together with the CPI 
and the CPI(M), had won all thirty-nine parliament seats from the 
state in 2004.  Already anxious about defending so many seats, the 
DMK has not been eager for early elections.  At the same time, the 
DMK's principal opposition, Jayalalithaa's AIADMK, has been 
floundering.  She recently joined the Third Front only to quickly 
break ranks from the new coalition by voting for the BJP candidate 
in the presidential elections.   The Ram Setu controversy's 
explosive mix of religion and politics only adds to the uncertainty 
in Tamil Nadu. 
 
¶11.  (SBU) COMMENT CONTINUED:  Despite the state's tradition of 
tolerating criticism of religion, Chief Minister Karunanidhi 
probably went too far in calling Ram a "lie" and a "drunkard." 
Media contacts said even in Tamil Nadu insulting Ram "is a bad 
idea," but that it would probably be forgotten in a few months. 
 
Karunanidhi and the DMK seem to recognize this and have been trying 
to reframe the debate away from his insults to Ram.  They are trying 
to shift focus to the importance of the Sethusamudram project to the 
people of Tamil Nadu as well as by rallying Tamil sentiment against 
north Indians through highlighting Vedanti's reported threat to 
Karunanidhi.  A media contact told us that a senior DMK leader had 
said they needed to "get people to forget the Ram is a drunkard 
comment" by going on the attack.  He thought Vedanti's comments and 
the planned October 1 general strike will serve as a pivot and allow 
the DMK to change the debate.  If early elections for parliament are 
held, we expect that the DMK and its allies would still hold onto a 
majority of the thirty-eight seats, but given the heat generated by 
the Ram Setu matter they will likely prefer to delay elections until 
the dust settles and Karunanidhi's intemperate comments are 
forgotten. 
 
¶12. (SBU) EMBASSY COMMENT:  The BJP and its cultural branch sister 
organizations (the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Sangh Parivar) have 
already latched onto the Ram Sethu controversy in the North, 
planning demonstrations as far at Jammu to incite Hindus on the 
issue.  At its national executive meeting in Bhopal, September 
21-23, in passing a resolution condemning the Ram Sethu project, the 
BJP has committed itself to a Hindutva agenda in the upcoming 
national election.  Congress will have to tread carefully as 
Ram-related issues have shifted the balance of power in the past. 
END COMMENT. 
 
¶13.  This cable was coordinated with Embassy New Delhi. 
 
HOPPER