Chennai: Even while chief minister M. Karunanidhi and his cabinet colleagues swear that Lord Rama is only a mythological character and the Rama Sethu a natural formation, the Tamil Nadu government has launched a publicity campaign across North India to sell Rama Sethu to the Rama bhakts.
"The waters here still carry the blessings of Lord Rama’s lotus feet. Because this is where the monkey army crossed over to Lanka to rescue Sita. Listen to the waves telling their stories at Rameswaram," proclaim the hoardings on the New Delhi-Dehradun Janshadabdi Express.
The photographs of the advertisements were released to reporters here on Thursday by Dr Subramanian Swamy, Janata Party president.
"It is ridiculous to note that while chief minister Karunanidhi in his speeches debunks the Sethu and Rama , the DMK government has been advertising and affirming the existence of the Sethu and the historic city of Rama," Dr Swamy said.
Dr Swamy said these posters were widely displayed on the trains running in the northernzone of the Indian Railway. "These posters were filmed by a friend of mine who was on his way to Dehradun from New Delhi by the Janasadabdi Express," he explained.
Dr Swamy also released copies of the letter written by R Anandkumar, the then director, ministry of environment and forests to Mr S Gopalan, development advisor (ports), surface transport ministry, in which the former rules out the possibility of the Sethu Samudram canal project because of the disastrous consequences to the environment.
"Prima facie the ministry is not in favour of this project as this has serious environmental implications with respect to the marine park and the biosphere reserve located in that area. The ministry of environment and forests strongly feels that from the environment point of view the Sethusamudram Project should not be taken up at all," Mr Anandkumar wrote in his letter dated April 8, 1999 to Mr Gopal.
Dr Swamy said the National Remote Sensing Agency (NRSA) under the Department of Space had published a book of satellite photographs which claimed that the Sethu was a man-made structure. He also said that he would file separate cases against Mr Karunanidhi and Union ministers T R Baalu and Ambika Soni for their claims on Rama Sethu.
Source: World press
