Ram Setu vs. Sethusamudram project: When Tamil Nadu BJP headquarters was attacked by DMK cadres
In 2007, the Parliament and political circles in New Delhi and Chennai were abuzz with heated discussions on the Sethusamudram Shipping Canal Project. The objective
In 2007, the Parliament and political circles in New Delhi and Chennai were abuzz with heated discussions on the Sethusamudram Shipping Canal Project. The objective of the project was to create a shipping route through the shallow waters of the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Bay, an area marked by a chain of shoals between India and Sri Lanka. These shoals are commonly referred to as Adam’s Bridge or Ram Setu. Although the idea of creating a shipping route around the Indian peninsula in this narrow strait had been mooted more than a century earlier, the Sethusamudram Shipping Canal Project was strongly by T.R. Baalu, the Union Shipping Minister from 2004 to 2009, during the first term of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government. The groundwork for the project was laid during the tenure of Atal Bihari Vajpayee as Prime Minister when the DMK was part of the ruling Democratic Alliance (NDA). The project was formally inaugurated in July 2005 when Manmohan Singh was the Prime Minister. At that time, AIADMK supremo Jayalalithaa termed it “economically and ecologically” unviable, according to a report in The Hindu. The Supreme Court stalled work on the project in 2007 amid concerns that it could damage the Ram Setu. The DMK and the BJP were engaged in heated arguments over the existence of Ram Setu, both inside and outside the Parliament. In 2007, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi said the Ram Setu existed only in the imagination of some people and it was not a man-made structure.
Senior BJP leader L.K. Advani strongly objected to Karunanidhi’s remarks on the “existence of Lord Rama” and demanded he withdraw his statement. Against this backdrop, in September 2007, Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) leader and former BJP MP Ram Vilas Vedanti (who died in December 2025) triggered a major controversy by saying that “whosoever chopped off the head and tongue of the DMK president [M. Karunanidhi] would be gifted in gold,” according to an archival report in The Hindu. Vedanti’s remarks sparked widespread protests by DMK cadres across the State. Demonstrations were held in Chennai, Madurai, Tiruchi and Kanniyakumari, among other places. Protesters resorted to various forms of agitation including burning the effigy of Vedanti. In Chennai, on September 23, 2007, a protest was held on South Boag Road in T. Nagar, near Vaidyaraman Street where Kamalalayam, the BJP’s State headquarters, is located. The demonstration was led by the then State Information Minister Parithi Ilamvazhuthi. Several DMK leaders from the city, including Chennai Mayor Ma. Subramanian (now Health Minister) and district secretaries Balaraman Anbazhagan, were at the spot. As DMK workers raised slogans against Vedanti and Mr. Advani, a section of the protesters entered Vaidyaraman Street around 10.15 a.m. and hurled stones at the BJP office, damaging window panes. A flagpost at the entrance of the party office was also uprooted. Nearly 15 BJP members including women sustained minor injuries, The Hindu reported, quoting G. Kumaravelu, then vice-president of the BJP’s State unit. Around 11 a.m., the police detained the protesters.
The BriefWire