October 25, 2007
PRESS RELEASE by Dr. Subramanian Swamy

1. Now that the Supreme Court has disowned the Government –appointed so-called “Committee of Eminent Persons on Sethu Samudram Canal Project”, it is necessary to re-name the committee as “Baalu’s Anti-Rama Committee (BARC)”, since it contains as members only those who have to date rubbished Hindu holy scriptures and ridiculed the Rama Setu.

2. Judging by the defensive mode of the Congress Party on the Rama Setu issue in the Gujarat election campaign currently in progress, it is obvious that this BARC is a waste of time and a drain on the public exchequer.

3. The Sethu Samudram Canal Project is now doomed because the Alignment No.6 chosen earlier at the insistence of the DMK called for breaking through Rama Setu by use of explosives. This is not acceptable to the people of India. Even Kashmiri leaders like Mirwaiz Maulvi Farooq and Shabir Shah have publicly opposed this route because Muslims regard Rama as “Imam-E-Hind” (the divinity of Hindustan).

4. Of the remaining five alternatives, four are barred by the environment impact assessments of the NEERI and hence not feasible. The only remaining route is via the land route west of Pamban and through Mandapam. For that, the SSCP has to be first scrapped and re-written.
(Subramanian Swamy)