VHP demands apology from Buddhadev Bhattacharjee

KOLKATA: The Vishwa Hindu Parishad demanded an apology from West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee on Saturday for his remarks on Lord Ram, despite his claim that the media had quoted him out of context.
    
"Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee must ask forgiveness from the Hindus. Does someone who is responsible for Nandigram and Singur have any business commenting on Lord Ram? He has no right to insult Hindus," VHP International General Secretary Praveen Togadia said after a rally of the Rameswaram Ramasethu Raksha Manch.
    
"If Ram is imaginary, then Lord Buddha, after whom the chief minister is named, also did not exist and hence he should have his first name changed," Togadia said.
    
On Thursday, speaking at a meeting to comdemn the demolition of the Babri Masjid, Bhattacharjee, had said that Lord Ram existed in the imagination of a poet and the Ram Sethu was a natural geographical formation.
    
On Saturday morning, however, he said in a statement that he had merely repeated the lines of Rabindranath Tagore and that the media had quoted him out of context.