West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee on Thursday questioned the existence of Lord Ram.

"Ram was born in the imagination of poets and Ram Sethu is a natural formation under the sea," Bhattacharjee told a meeting to mark the 15th anniversary of the demolition of Babri Masjid.

He said the Sethusamudram project was being opposed by the Sangh Parivar on religious ground, but it was vital for economic development of the region. Reacting to Bhattacharjee's remarks, state Bharatiya Janata Party general secretary Rahul Sinha on Friday said the remarks were an attempt to appease the Muslim vote bank after the fiasco in Nandigram [Images].

"Ram is a matter of faith and Communists had always hated god-men. They even spread calumnies against Tagore and Swami Vivekananda," he said.