CHENNAI, Sept 23: A sensitive row over a proposed sea corridor sacred to Hindus between India and Sri Lanka escalated on Sunday with supporters of a local party ransacking offices of Hindu rightwing groups.

Activists of southern Tamil Nadu state’s chief minister M. Karunanidhi smashed office windows and stoned vehicles belonging to India’s main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party and allied groups in Chennai city, police said.

The attack comes after a Hindu priest allied to the BJP offered gold as reward to anyone who cut off Karunanidhi’s head for dismissing a deity worshipped by millions as a “big lie”.

BJP leader G. Kumaravelu in term accused a Tamil Nadu minister of “literally telling his cadres to attack us.” Chennai Police Commissioner Nanchil Kumaran said that order was restored in the city by Sunday afternoon.

Karunanidhi said the government was justified in making a half-billion dollar canal that would allow ships to save more than 30 hours by skirting around the southern tip of India.

The comments have already sparked protests and two deaths in the south of the country, police said.

The shipping project involves dredging a lane through Adam’s bridge, a chain of islands between India and Sri Lanka. At the moment, ships moving between the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal also need to travel around Sri Lanka..—AFP