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        DMK president and Chief Minister M Karunanidhi's reaction ever since the Supreme Court extended the stay on dredging in Ram Sethu area on the petitions of AIADMK supremo J Jayalalithaa and Janata Party President Subramanian Swamy has been marked with frustration, anger and a clear absence of logic.

        First, Karunanidhi, in an utterly unstatesmanly manner wanted to know in which college Rama studied Engineering. He reiterated this atleast half-a-dozen times and went on to say that Valmiki's Ramayana described Rama, the hero of the epic as a 'drunkard.'

        This patently sacrilegious outburst was not only wholly against facts but also was another signal of helplessness as the apex court had stayed dredging for three months in the Ram sethu alignment area.

        Angered by the continuous anti-Ram remarks of Karunanidhi, came the objectionable remarks of former BJP Member of Parliament Ram Vilas Vedanti against the Chief Minister and a chain of violent reactions.

        Though the sanyasin retracted from his statement the damage was already done and the DMK cadres gave vent to their anger by going on an orchestrated rampage against the BJP and other parties. What is more, several prominent DMK leaders openly sent out threats that no right wing leader or worker could freely roam in the State.

        In Tamilnadu, Karunanidhi is one politician who often dwells on what is political civility and decency. He should ponder whether it was within the horizons of civility to viciously attack the offices and workers of a political party and its affiliates which had distanced itself from the remarks of a former member of the party.

        The Chief Minister would also do well to say on what he felt about the threat calls by his party brethren to right-wingers in Tamilnadu who have and had nothing to do with the utterances of Ram Vilas Vedanti. Is this not tantamount to inciting violence?

        The demand of several State Ministers and Union Minister T R Baalu that criminal action should be taken against Vedanti for his remarks is wholly justified. At the same time, they should tell why similar action could not be taken against their party supremo and the Chief Minister under the provisions of the same criminal law for wanton hurtful utterances against Ram who is revered as God by millions of Indians.

        Ironically, even as the offices and cadres of the BJP were being attacked across the State as a violent sequel to Vedanti's statement, the Chief Minister presided over a Democratic Progressive Alliance meet on 24 September and announced that a bandh will be held on 1 October on Sethu issue besides a public meeting on 30 September.

        Officialy, it was said that the bandh call was to 'tell the Centre that the people supported the Sethu project.' Karunanidhi and his supporters should say what a common man can do if public transportation was shut down and offices and business establishments were closed as a result of a government sponsored bandh ? Could that be taken as a token of public support ?

        Then came the baffling statement of Karunanidhi on 25 September that communal forces were trying to disrupt peace and bring law and order problems in the State when his own partymen were engaged in physically hitting out at the rightists and their friends. Karunanidhi should convince the world how he could be regarded as a fair and statesmanlike politician.