The Hindu : National : Save Sethu or scrap the project, says Swamy

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Save Sethu or scrap the project, says Swamy

Legal Correspondent

Court must harmonise religious faith and development by directing government to take alternative alignment

Whether anybody goes to the middle of the sea to offer worship or not is secondary
Project not economically viable, it will be a security risk

New Delhi: The Sethusamudram Shipping Channel Project should be scrapped altogether if the government cannot proceed further without destroying Ramar Sethu (Adam’s Bridge), Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy argued in the Supreme Court on Wednesday.

“It is established and admitted by the respondents that a structure, that is natural or constructed and widely known for very long as Ramar Sethu, does exist but that its origins and nature have admittedly not been investigated yet despite overwhelming prima facie evidence that Ramar Sethu is a constructed causeway that fits the description in Valmiki’s Ramayana,” he told a Bench comprising Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan and Justices R.V. Raveendran and J.M. Panchal.

As per ‘Images India’, a document of the National Remote Sensing Agency of the Ministry of Space under the Prime Minister’s Office, tabled in Parliament, “the structure of Ramar Sethu suggests that it may be man made and the bridge is seen as an example of ancient history linked to the Indian mythology,” Dr. Swamy said.

Ad on trains

He pointed out that a Tamil Nadu government advertisement on trains said: “The waters here [Rameswaram island] still carry the blessings of Lord Rama’s lotus feet because this is where the monkey army crossed over to Lanka to rescue Sita.”

The Centre wrote to the UNESCO urging that the Majuli Island in Assam be declared an ancient monument. “While so, why is the Centre hesitant to seek a declaration that Ramar Sethu is an ancient monument?”

“For people to decide”

Dr. Swamy said: “Whether anybody goes to the middle of the sea to offer worship or not is secondary. We worship the Sun god but we don’t go to the Sun. What is held to be sacred by a large number of people of this country must remain sacred and no sacrilege must be allowed by rupturing Ramar Sethu. This court cannot decide what is sacred. It is for the people of this country to decide what is sacred.”

He said: “Religious sensibilities and feelings of nearly a billion persons of Hindu faith and those of other religious persuasions, who respect the sanctity of faith, cannot be disregarded in a narrow pursuit of the project claiming to advance economic development on economic calculations.”

The Centre’s decision to select alignment 6 for implementing the project was “arbitrary, unreasonable and illegal.”

“Biased report”

Referring to the report of the Committee of Eminent Persons, Dr. Swamy said it “contains inferences that are not supported by data or studies and it is a biased report. Prof. Ramachandran, who headed this committee, had met Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi at a meeting held to protest the Supreme Court’s interim order of stay on dredging across Ramar Sethu.”

Delhi metro project

He pointed out that during the execution of the Delhi metro rail project, an objection was raised to the elevated structure near the Qutb Minar on the ground that vibrations during train movement would affect a tomb. Subsequently, the project was revised as an underground system involving an additional cost of Rs. 558 crore. “But this government will not care for millions of Hindus and wants to break Ramar Sethu.”

Dr. Swamy said the Sethu project would not be economically viable, besides being a security risk to the country. The court must harmonise religious faith and economic development by directing the government to carry out the project through an alternative alignment without touching Ramar Sethu; otherwise, it should be scrapped.

Combine two alignments

Earlier, senior counsel C.S. Vaidyanathan, appearing for Hindu Munnani leader Rama Gopalan, suggested with the help of a map that alignments 4 and 6 could be combined and the project implemented without affecting Ramar Sethu.

Further arguments will continue on Thursday.

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