Ram exists, secularism doesn't

July 2007:

American space agency NASA has said that the structure of sand bars and rocks situated in the Palk Strait between India and Sri Lanka, known as Ram Setu or Adam's Bridge in maps, is a natural phenomenon and not a man-made structure.

This was announced Saturday by N.K. Raghupathy, CEO, Sethusamudram Corp Ltd, at a press conference here when he revealed the contents of an email received in this regard from NASA's Johnson Space Centre. A few days back, the company sent an email to NASA to know whether Ram Setu was a made-made structure.

"This evidence contradicts claims that said it (Ram Setu) was created out of human activity," Raghupathy told reporters. [link]

September 2007:

US space agency NASA says pictures taken by its astronauts do not prove the existence or otherwise of a manmade Ram Setu bridge as mentioned in the Hindu epic Ramayana.

'Some people have taken pictures taken by our astronauts to make their claim. No position can be taken on the basis of these photographs in any way,' Braukus said when asked to comment on the controversy surrounding the site of the proposed Rs.24 billion Sethusamudram canal project off India's southern tip.

'The age, substratum, geological structure or anthropological status of the ocean bed in Palk strait cannot be determined by the astronauts' photographs. So there is no basis for these claims,' Braukus said. [link]

It is also true that a number of Hindu organizations and individuals had claimed that the Setu was man made on the basis of the very same photographs. But a Government official lying on record, do you see a problem with that?

Why the hurry? Why this desperation?

Ashok Malik writes:

That aside, projections have been made about the economic non-viability of Sethusamudram. It is possible that all of these are wrong, but the Government has not bothered to politically sell the issue. Instead, the overriding reasons for pushing ahead seem to be granting lucrative dredging contracts to flunkies of the DMK and its Ministers. [link via Sandeep]

Note the sheer hypocrisy of the Government's handling of this project (with dubious economic benefits) versus the 123-Agreement (which at least in theory has strong economic benefits). They want to destroy the Ram Setu ASAP. The 123 has been put on hold.

These antics certainly do not inspire any confidence in this dysfunctional Government. A bunch of anti-Hindus are masquerading as seculars. They can barely hide their glee at our predicament. This controversy is also a breather for the Congress and allows it to shift the focus from very damaging issues such as surging farmer suicides, the unsolved terror attacks in Hyderabad etc. It is no coincidence that this controversy comes close at the heels of the communal quotas in Tamil Nadu.

Ram Setu is a question of faith and respect. It is also a question of staving off future, far more damaging consequences.