The controversy about the Sethu Samudram Canal Project (SSCP) is most unfortunate. The scheme is to create a shipping channel to connect Palk Strait and
The protests against the project started when NASA released satellite photos showing the Adam’s Bridge which many millions believe was built by Lord Rama’s forces to cross over to
What I can’t understand is, if the BJP and their allies genuinely believed in the sanctity of the bridge, why didn’t they, when they were in power, declare the area as a heritage site and change the name Adam’s Bridge officially to ‘Ramaar Paalam’ or ‘Ram Sethu’? The obvious answer is that at that time they failed to see the color of votes, if at all it is there, in this far away (from
Now it would seem that BJP went trigger happy without referring to the back files. A Times of India report that I saw on the Internet yesterday says that the SSCP was revived (the idea had been mooted during British days) by the then BJP government. Different alignments were considered and the BJP government gave the in principle approval to the project in January 2003. Quoting sources the report says that the present alignment which cuts through the Ram Sethu was approved by the NDA government led by BJP. Therefore it appears that the Manmohan Singh government is only carrying on with what the BJP had approved.
If this position is confirmed conclusively, the BJP would have difficulty in explaining the agitation against the project.
Two images of
UN map, considered to be in public domain
Released to public domain by the Federal Government of United States.
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