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The Indian government's Sethusumudram Canal Project with a whooping price tag of Rupees 24.27 billion (US$600 million) runs over a shallow rock and coral formation known as Sethu Ram or Adam's bridge located southeast of Rameswaram near Pamban, which stretches to the Talimannar Coast of Sri Lanka. The region connecting the Gulf of Mannar and Palk Bay through north of Adam's Bridge has always remained closed to ocean traffic due to its shallow waters, which is insufficient for the movement of ships.
The SCP aims at reducing the time and navigable distance between its east and west coast by avoiding the traverse around Sri Lanka. However, it's long-delayed but recently approved voyage hit rough seas with claims from millions of devout Hindus that dredging the area would destroy the formation believed to be an ancient bridge constructed by Lord Rama to reach Sri Lanka to free his wife Sita held captive by the demon King Ravana.
The SCP ran into stormy weather after three petitioners challenged the implementation of the project in the Madras High Court seeking declaration that the Adam's bridge is an ancient protected monument, which should be preserved and not demolished for the sake of saving ocean transit time.
When the case was transferred to the apex court, the Archaeological Survey of India on behalf of the government filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court, September 12, claiming no historical evidence in the proposed project area to prove the existence of characters, monuments, and occurrences as depicted in the religious text. This has angered both religious Hindu fundamentalists and fanatics who oppose ASI's writ as a proclamation of the non-existence of the Hindu God and one that questions the authenticity of the epic text.
While religious references and historical evidences slug each other in Indian courts, the issue has played well in the hands of opposition political parties predominantly the Hindu outfits who have since called on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for an apology and to scrap the project. Senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader L K Advani sought immediate withdrawal of the government's affidavit before the Supreme Court. "I told the prime minister that the affidavit was highly objectionable. I met the law minister also and told him that it should be immediately withdrawn," he told the media.
It is blaphemous and arrogant at worst, and insensitive and reckless at best, for a government claiming to be secular to trash the deepest and noblest sensibilities of the Hindus. In one stroke of its legal pen, the government has sought to negate all that the Hindus consider sacred in their faith," Advani said
The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and Advani's BJP also claim that some NASA satellite imagery shows the remnants of the man made bridge connecting India and Sri Lanka and have even labeled it a conspiracy between the U.S. and the SCP. Although NASA has documented the formation as a series of stepping-stone coral islets known as Adam's Bridge that almost forms a land bridge between the two countries, it does not mention it as an artificial structure constructed by humans. Foreigners and Indians alike have described the Adam's bridge as Rama's bridge since ancient times in their maps and travelogues, though much of the reference has been driven by fable rather than fact.
Critics and petitioners argue that the canal can still be built without breaching the formation by constructing an alternate route by removing the barren sand heaps near the Mandapam village between Rameshwaram city and the Dhanushkoti railway. They have requested the president to reconsider their suggested shorter route while keeping in mind the historical and religious importance of the area as well as the sentiments of the people.
For the Indian government, the SCP is a dream project that will reduce steaming distance by 424 nautical miles and sailing time by 30 hours for ships plying between its east and west coast. For the millions of Hindus obeisant to their Lord, it is a disaster that would wipe out centuries of religious ideologies and revered sentiments.
Can mythological texts, which form an important part of ancient Indian literature be deemed as historical records which incontrovertibly prove the existence of the characters or the occurrence of the event, depicted therein? The struggle to remain afloat remains a challenge to both parties.
