By IANS
New Delhi : The Bharatiya Janata Party and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) along with their affiliate organisations staged a massive rally here Sunday to protect the controversial Ram Setu off the coast of Tamil Nadu.
Around 500,000 supporters from all parts of the country attended the rally organised by the Rameshwaram Ram Setu Raksha Manch at the Swarn Jayanti Park in north Delhi.
Among those present was the RSS chief K.S. Sudarshan, who criticised the government move of creating Sethusamudram shipping canal after destroying the bridge.
“It is an irony that while on one hand, the majority of the people of the country do not want the Ram Setu to be destructed and on the other, the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government, the union shipping Minister T.R. Baalu, and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi have vowed to destruct the bridge at all costs,” Sudershan said
“The Ram Setu doesn’t belong to Hindu’s alone. Even the Muslims and the Christians acknowledge it as Adam’s Bridge.”
Critical of the government’s move to destroy the bridge, Sudarshan said the argument being touted by the government was that shipping vessels and ships had to cross an extra 440 oceanic miles in 36 hours thus wasting huge amounts of fuel.
“If the Ram Setu was destructed, we would lose thorium which is available in 31 percent of the Indian beaches. The vast chunks of thorium would merge into the ocean and lakhs of fishermen would lose their livelihoods.”
Ram Setu or Adam’s Bridge is a chain of limestone shoals forming a link between Sri Lanka and India. The bridge, which is sacred to Hindus, finds mention in the ancient texts of Ramayana, which mentions that Lord Ram and his army of monkeys built the bridge to rescue Sita, who was abducted by Lanka king, Ravana.
The dredging of Ram Setu was undertaken when the Indian government gave its nod to the multi-million dollar Sethusamudram project, which requires breaking a portion of it to make the route navigable for ships around the Indian peninsula.
Also speaking on the occasion was the firebrand ascetic from the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, Sadhvi Rithambhra, who said: “Ram is not a slogan and we are not at the mercy of the political leaders.”
Prominent BJP leaders Arun Jaitley, Sushma Swaraj, Murli Manohar Joshi, Jagdish Mukhi, Harsh Vardhan, Vijay Goel, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh, Delhi Mayor Arti Mehra and many other MP’s and state legislators besides leading Shankaracharyas and professional experts were present at the mega rally.
Over 40 Hindu organisations associated with the saffron brigade took part.
According to VHP member Vinod Bansal, the Ram Setu Shilapujan Yatras – rallies to protest damage to the bridge – have proved very effective in “educating people about the destruction of Ram Setu. Hundreds of such yatras are being taken out all over the country, including in remote villages”.
Bansal told IANS that temples, dharmashalas (free lodgings), community centres and several schools in the capital are all booked for the ‘Ram bhaktas’ who have reached here from different states.
“People had been accommodated at over 1,000 temples, 70 schools, 250 community centres and more than 50 dharmashalas with basic amenities,” said Bansal.
The Ram Setu Shilapujan Yatra began in Delhi Nov 20 and concluded Dec 16 after traversing several districts. Besides, two million pamphlets are being distributed in Delhi to educate people about the destruction of the Ram Setu, the symbol of our great cultural heritage, said Anil Kumar, another member.
All main roads of Delhi leading to the place of rally were decorated with saffron flags and buntings.