Political nightmares overshadow Setu project

IN THE NAME OF GOD: Ram was the platform on which the BJP came to power.

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New Delhi: Few public projects in India have had so many sharp divides; like the ones between the Congress and BJP and North vs South.

BJP is the group that started the idea of the Sethusamundram project, something that they thought would have benefitted the region enormously. Now this is the same group that wants the project to be shelved.

"Sethusamundram project is a ridiculous idea,” BJP leader L K Advani was quoted as saying.

"What will Sonia Gandhi know about the faith of Hindus? She is an Italian afterall,” said Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi.

Ram was the platform on which the BJP came to power. When they were in power, it was more of economics and less of religiosity that mattered. Today, the wheel has turned a full circle.

It all started with an innocuous affidavit that was filed in the Supreme Court by the ASI. While answering why the Sethusamundram project should not be stalled, it ended up questioning the very existence of Ram.

That was enough to create a political storm. Political fraternity was split up between those who went by faith and those who went by reason.

"There is no scientific evidence to prove that Ram existed,” Union Minister Kapil Sibal had said.

"This is an insult to the faith of millions of Hindus,” BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad had claimed.

Ever since the Sethusamundram Shipping canal project was first conceived, the project has been generating controversy.

The Sri Lankan government set up a committee to look into the environmental aspects of the canal.

Many believe that it could have disastrous impact for the region's marine biology but the Dravidian parties in Tamil Nadu led by Karunanidhi's DMK have made the completion of the project into an electoral issue.

Their contention is that it will reduce travel time between the eastern and western coast by 12 hours. As of now, the ships have to go via Sri Lanka, leading to a high expenditure.

But that’s where the economics ends and politics begins. Karunanidhi's anti-Aryan, anti-Ram beliefs are well known. His argument is, was Ram a civil engineer that he managed to build the Ram Setu or Adam's bridge? Why is there no evidence that he went to some technical institute? His mentor Periyar once famously led a procession in Tamil Nadu with chappals around the neck of a Ram idol.

"Those who are attacking the project are stupid. The project will go on,” said Karunanidhi.

There are also charges of DMK leaders vested interests in the project. But now as the Sethusamundram threatens to convert itself into a Ram Mandir kind of a flash point, battle lines are being clearly drawn.

Ambica Soni, the minister to whom the ASI reports, is already in the dock. Many believe the Congress too is enjoying the moment, as it allows the party to reach out to both the majority as well as the minority.

In the end, with early elections almost inevitable, the Sethusamundram project might turn out to be just the kind of fig leaf that both the UPA and the NDA might be looking for to galvanise their own cadre.