A petition seeking the removal of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi for his remarks against Lord Ram was filed in the Madras high court on for allegedly hurting the religious sentiments of Hindus.

The quo warranto petition has been filed by Ramathangarasu, the president of Tamil Nadu Bharathiya Jana Shakthi.

According to Ramathangarasu, he came to know about Karunanidhi's speech from newspaper reports. Karunanidhi had challenged the very existence of Lord Rama and criticised him as an ordinary citizen, much inferior to an engineer. He had deliberately made the declaration in order to tarnish the image of Lord Rama. His speech directly affected the feelings and sentiments of a majority of Hindus, Ramathangarasu said.

Being the chief minister, Karunanidhi ought not to have criticised Lord Ram, affecting the sentiments of Hindus, thereby committing breach of peace. Karunanidhi who pledged to uphold the Constitution, had violated his oath, he said.

The petitioner also sought to restrain Karunanidhi from signing any record as chief minister, pending disposal of his petition.

Karunanidhi had stated at a public meeting at Erode that Ram was an imaginary character and Ram Sethu was not man-made. He had said "some say there was a person over 17 lakh years ago. Do not touch the bridge (Ram Sethu) constructed by him. Who is this Ram? From which engineering college did he graduate? Is there any proof for this?"