BJP ministers selected Sethusamudram route: Baalu (Interview)

Sep 19, 2007, 6:12 GMT

New Delhi, Sep 19 (IANS) Shipping and Road Transport Minister T.R. Baalu has revealed that 'no less than six Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ministers' in the previous National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government were involved in the final selection of the present route of the Sethusamudram Ship Channel Project.

'We have not gone beyond what was decided during the six years of the NDA regime. This is sheer politicking and it is going to show up the BJP in a bad light,' Baalu told IANS in an interview at his home here.

'The current general secretary and the former surface transport minister, Arun Jaitley, the sole Tamil face in the BJP, S. Thirunavukkarasar, V.P. Goyal, Shatrughan Sinha, Murli Manohar Joshi and Uma Bharati were all involved in one way or the other in approving this project during the NDA regime,' Baalu charged.

The BJP is now engaged in a strident campaign against the canal project, arguing that it would end up in damaging the Ram Sethu, a bridge said to have been built by Lord Ram during the time of the Ramayana epic, and outraging Hindu sentiments.

Baalu said 'The SSCP is 30 km long, of which a mere 300 metres - that is one-hundredth of the whole stretch - will be dredged and dug through the Adam's Bridge (Ram Sethu).'

Detailing the SSCP's choppy progress during the NDA regime, Baalu said that the environment ministry rejected three previous routes because it was feared that it might disturb the marine biosphere.

'The fourth route was also rejected because that was considered even closer to the biosphere. And all this took place during the NDA regime,' Baalu maintained.

'Thi fifth would have caused severe hardships to the fishing trawlers and displacement of 750 families of fishermen.'

Baalu took strong exception to Joshi raising the Ram Sethu bogey now and using the pretext of 'heritage' to block the project.

'Joshi says today that Ram Sethu or Adam's Bridge should be declared a heritage site. But what did he do then? Both the culture ministry and the ASI were under him then,' said Baalu.

He also rubbished the campaign that he was responsible for the restoration of the controversial paragraphs in the affidavit denying the existence of Hindu god Ram that was presented in the Supreme Court by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI).

'What is the logic in that affidavit coming to me?' Baalu asked.

'The ASI does not come under my ministry. My ministry had filed a separate affidavit which the government counsel in the Supreme Court also withdrew to make both the affidavits compatible,' Baalu said.

He said once he gets the copy of the Supreme Court order on the project his ministry will decide the future course of action.

© 2007 Indo-Asian News Service