A Bajrang Dal activist at a Lucknow protest on Wednesday against the proposed demolition of Ram Setu. (PTI)

New Delhi, Sept. 12: The BJP leadership, so far cautious about the Ram Setu movement spearheaded by the Sangh parivar, today lapped it up after the Centre’s affidavit cast doubts on Ram’s existence.

The party, which had initially doubted the bridge’s electoral value, now feels that the government’s position in the Supreme Court has the potential of triggering a larger public discourse about religious beliefs.

A senior leader said the party would shed its hesitancy and present the case as another example of the anti-Hindu mindset of the so-called secular parties.

BJP spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad said the government’s affidavit, which said there was no evidence to prove the existence of the Ram Setu, was a crude attempt to insult Hindu cultural heritage and beliefs.

He described it as “a classic example of patent appeasement politics” and asked the Prime Minister if such an affidavit could be filed about any other religion.

Prasad said the affidavit filed by the culture ministry questioned the importance of Valmiki’s Ramayana, Tulasidas’s Ramcharitmanas and Ram himself and recalled that the Congress-led government has elements who altered the Constitution to please the minority community in the Shah Bano case.

BJP leaders are already comparing the Ram Setu issue with that of the Babri Masjid. Sources said the party, which adopted a resolution on the Ram Setu at its last national executive three months ago, may now include it in its election manifesto.

The BJP’s fellow Sangh affiliate VHP, which had organised a nation-wide “chakka jam” in protest against the proposed blasting of the Ram Setu, gave a new twist to the controversy.

The outfit’s international president, Praveen Togadia, said the government’s affidavit suggests Ram did not visit Rameshwaram at all, which means he did not avenge Sita’s abduction.

Togadia asked the Congress to erase the words “Hey Ram!” from Mahatma Gandhi’s samadhi if it thought Ram did not exist and announced an agitation from September 27 in which rallies will be taken out in every village and town.

The VHP leader said it was a fight of the Hindus against the government.

Togadia also linked the issue with the civilian nuclear agreement with America, alleging that the move was aimed at facilitating thorium supply to the US.

Although the VHP programme failed to receive popular support, its supporters did manage to create trouble for office-goers in the morning.