RELIGIOUS MONKEY BUSINESS ROILS INDIAN WATERS, POLITICAL

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