Re:Our delegation to the President of India Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam

[Guest guest]

PRESS NOTE

A delegation of Hindu Manch leaders met the honourable President of India His Excellency Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam at 3.30 pm today to convey the country's anguish at the proposed destruction of the Rama Setu (bridge) if the Setu Samudram Ship Canal Project conceived by the Union government is implemented in its present form.

The project envisages cutting a ship canal across Rameshwaram near Kothandaramaswamy temple to connect to the Gulf of Mannar in the Palk Bay.

The Ramayana records that Lord Rama built a bridge from Rameshwaram to Sri Lanka to enable his army to reach the island, defeat Ravana and retrieve Sitaji who was held captive there. This bridge, called Rama Setu, exists to date, proof of which was provided by images released by NASA in recent years. The bridge is about 30 km long and 3 km wide and scientists have established its antiquity as 17 lakh 25,000 years. This dating ties nicely with that of the Ramayana and corresponds to the positions of heavenly bodies as recorded in the epic at that time. The bridge is also evidence - if evidence at all is necessary - to authenticate the Ramayana. Needless to add, the Rama Setu is part of our priceless national and international heritage.

The problem with the Setu Samudram project in its present form is that it envisages cutting the Rama Setu because it lies on the path of the proposed ship canal. This is totally unacceptable as it tramples upon the rights and sentiments of crores of Rama bhaktas through out the world who revere the holy sites associated with the Ramayana.

The Hindu Manch is not against the Setu Samudram project per se. It agrees that the project makes good economic sense because it will help Bharat save:

* About 400 nautical miles of sailing for ships

* About 20 tonnes of fuel per transit or Rs 70,000 per vessel

* Foreign exchange of Rs 21,000 crore per year

* Voyage time of about 16 hours per transit per vessel

As much as the Hindu Manch wants the Setu Samudram project, it also wants the Rama Setu intact. This can be easily achieved through a work around by utilising the 15 km barren, uncultivable land strip that stretches East-West between Pamban and Dhanushkoti.

We are not against development but we cannot allow it at the cost of our national heritage. For example, when the then Mayawati government in Uttar Pradesh started work on the Taj Corridor project that was seen by environmentalists as a threat to the Taj Mahal, the Judiciary intervened decisively to force the Executive to drop it. In Delhi, a proposed underground Metro route that ran close to the Qutub Minar was abandoned and reworked following fears that the Qutub could be damaged. The antiquity of the Taj and the Qutub are 358 and 814 years, respectively. When the Executive and the Judiciary are sensitive enough to protect them, shouldn't they show greater sensitivity towards the Rama Setu, whose antiquity is 17 lakh 25,000 years? This is the appeal the delegation made to the Rashtrapatiji.

The delegation also made the point that the Rama Setu is the oldest surviving man-made structure on earth. The other old structures in the world, such as the Great Wall of China and the Pyramids in Egypt are just 2694 and 4506 years old, respectively. Let not humans destroy something that has withstood the ravages of time, including the recent Tsunami!

In the last few months, the Hindu Manch launched a nationwide signature campaign on the issue. In all, about 35 lakh people from all districts of the country and from all walks of life appended their signatures to the appeal to save the Rama Setu.We Rama bhaktas requested his Excellency to ensure that the Setu Samudram project does not harm the Rama Setu constructed by Shri Ramachandra from Dhanushkoti to Sri Lanka 17 lakh 25,000 years ago. The state-wise break-up of signatures collected is appended alongwith.

Shri Rama Gopalan, founder and head of the Hindu Munnani in Tamil Nadu,

Head of the delegation. Names of the other members of the delegation -

Shri D. Kuppu Ramu,

State Convenor, Tamilnadu Gram Panchayat Presidents' Federation, Ramanathapuram;

Shri Ramanathan,

TN State Vice President, Seva Bharati;

Shri C. Subrahmanyam,

TN State Secretary, Hindu Munnani;

Shri Ashok Prabhakar,

All-India Co-convenor, Hindu Jagaran;

Shri Satyanarayan Bansal,

State President, RSS, Delhi;

Shri Jai Bhagwan,

State President, Hindu Manch, Delhi;

Shri Dinesh Tyagi,

All-India General Secretary, Hindu Mahasabha;

Swami Raghavanandji Maharaj,

President, Sanatana Dharam Sabha, Delhi;

Shri Champat Rai,

Joint General Secretary, VHP; and

Shri Ramphal Bansal,

President, Sarvadesiya Arya Pratinidhi Nyay Sabha, Delhi.

( Dr. Bharatbhushan Arya )

September 27, 2006 Office Secretary

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