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Indian Government withdraws
affidavit on Ram Sethu
BY OUR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT
15 September, 2007
The Government of India has, seeking
three months’ time to examine the
controversial issue on the
Sethusamudram Project, withdrawn from
the Supreme Court the affidavit
relating to the mythological ‘Ram
Sethu.’
The Supreme Court Bench headed by
Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan on
September 14, 2007, allowed the
withdrawal of the affidavit and posted
the matter for next hearing in the
first week of January 2008.
The Bench said that the interim order
of August 31, 2007, restraining any
construction at the Ram Sethu, or
Adam’s Bridge, area would continue.
The Central Government told the court
that there was no intention to cast
aspersions on a religious faith or to
divide society and that it wanted to
resolve the matter in a “constructive
and mutually acceptable manner.”
The affidavit, filed by the
Archaeological Survey of India (ASI)
on behalf of the Central Government on
September 12, 2007, had stated that
“there was no evidence to prove the
existence of the characters or the
occurrence of events” in the Ramayana.
H R Bhardwaj, Union Minister for Law,
had on September 13, 2007, said that
the statements in the three paragraphs
(paragraphs 5, 6 and 20) of the
affidavit that were found
objectionable would be withdrawn.
He had explained that that “Lord Rama
is an integral part of Indian culture
and ethos and cannot be a matter of
debate or subject matter of litigation
in court.”
Following widespread protests by the
opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)
and several Hindu groups over the
first affidavit, the Government had
said it would file a supplementary
affidavit on the Sethusamudram case in
the Supreme Court.
BJP leader Lal Krishna Advani has said
the affidavit showed “contempt for
millions of Hindus in India and
abroad.”
Hindu groups have asked the Government
to stop the $560-million Sethusamudram
Ship Channel Project, saying that it
will destroy the mythical bridge
linking India and Sri Lanka, believed
to have been built by Lord Rama.
The Ram Sethu is a 48-kilometre chain
of limestone shoals that once linked
Rameswaram in Tamil Nadu with Mannar
in Sri Lanka.
The Sethusamudram Project will involve
dredging a channel in a narrow strip
of sea between India and Sri Lanka,
reducing distances and cutting costs
for freight traffic.
According to the Central Government,
research has shown that the Ram Sethu
was a series of sand shoals created by
sedimentation.
Dredging for the project had begun in
2005 and the channel, which would be
12 metres deep, 300 metres wide and
about 90 kilometres long, will provide
a crucial link between the Palk Bay
and the Gulf of Mannar.
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