ramasethu project crisis

Centre now chants Ram mantra
Govt To Withdraw Affidavit; Sonia Says Repair Damage ‘Today Itself’
TIMES NEWS NETWORK

New Delhi: Faced with a scathing attack from the BJP for having questioned the veracity of Lord Ram before the Supreme Court, the Centre has done an about-turn and will withdraw the controversial affidavit it filed in the apex court in the Sethusamudram case.
The retreat was personally ordered by Congress chief Sonia Gandhi who, according to party sources, asked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his colleagues, home minister Shivraj Patil and law minister H R Bhardwaj, to repair the damage “today itself”.
It was also clear that the government would not like to be demonstrably proactive in seeking to get the apex court lift the freeze it ordered on the Setusamudram project on complaints based on religious, environmental and other considerations.
The compliance with Sonia’s directive was swift, with Bhardwaj going on an overdrive to reverse the Centre’s stand at a hurriedly called press conference. Bhardwaj, who proclaimed himself to be an ardent Ram devotee, said the government would soon file a supplementary affidavit to correct the stance.
“We do not want any controversy. Ram is an integral part of Hindus of this country. He cannot be made subject of debate and his existence cannot be questioned. The impression that Ram does not exist needs to be obviated. Therefore, the government will file an explanatory supplementary affidavit and withdraw certain portions of the earlier affidavit,” he said.
Saying that he had told BJP leader L K Advani that the existence of Lord Ram cannot be a subject matter of litigation, the law minister conceded that three paragraphs in the affidavit were objectionable. Even though he said that the government would not give up its case on the Sethusamudram project in SC, he took pains to stress that the matter should not be confused with a debate on whether Ram existed. “The matter is in the Supreme Court. Let it be decided on its merit. I am not an expert on Ram Setu, but I believe in Ram,” he said.
The somersault came against the backdrop of anger and dismay over the self-goal scored by the Centre, presenting BJP to sharpen its Hindutva plank. The concern found expression in the informal exchange social justice minister Meira Kumar had with Bhardwaj at the meeting of the Union Cabinet. “Yeh kya karwa diya aap logon ne,” the usually reticent Meira is learnt to have told the law minister.
Railway minister Lalu Prasad, who has always fancied his reputation as a muscular secularist, distanced himself from the controversy, saying that the affidavit was a mistake.
“Lord Ram lives in the hearts of millions,” he told TOI. BJP, which had accused the government of “blasphemy”, sharpened the attack, with leader of Opposition L K Advani, in the recovery mode after the mishap over Jinnah, in the forefront. Advani, who had lodged a strong protest with the PM and the law minister on Wednesday night, moved in for a political kill by asking the Centre to apologise.
The leader of the Ayodhya movement was in combat mode when he addressed a press conference. He accused the Manmohan Singh government and Congress of practising communalism, in what marked an escalation of attack which had so far been limited to accusations of “pseudo-secularism” and “appeasement”.



ASI told SC that there was no historical and scientific evidence to establish the existence of Lord Rama or other characters in the Ramayana .....


wat do u think is d central govt trying to do ?????? itss jus creatin a political drama nothin els.....wat is ur say abt the project ?? shld it b constructed or objected ??