VHP wants Kalam in Sethu committee

Allahabad, Oct 17: The Vishwa Hindu Parishad today demanded that a committee be set up under the chairmanship of former President A P J Abdul Kalam to study the feasibility of the Sethusamudram project in its proposed form.

"We have no faith in any feasibility study conducted by any experts committee set up by the central government as it is unlikely to serve any purpose other than protecting the interests of vested interests and, to some extent, appeasing the Marxists who have never had any respect for traditions and sentiments of Hindus", VHP International President Ashok Ssinghal told reporters here.

He said that to resolve the crisis, a team of experts headed by Kalam, "who is himself a native of Rameswaram and whose patriotism is unquestionable", should be constituted which would "honestly state the perils involved in demolishing the Ram sethu and also suggest suitable alternatives".

Lauding the Supreme Court's tough stand against Tamil Nadu's ruling DMK when it threatened to stage a bandh for speedy completion of the project, the VHP supremo hoped "the country's highest judicial body will make the necessary intervention in the matter".

Singhal also said VHP would go ahead with its mass awareness campaign on the Sethusamudram issue, "which would be of much greater magnitude than Ayodhya and eventually lead to a political atmosphere in which no outfit would dare to take Hindus for granted".