If the Government decides to keep a thing secret, it mostly succeeds. So it happened with the Ram Sethu affidavit. After the informal GoM failed to bridge the differences between different stakeholders, the matter was taken up by the CCPA. The draft affidavit that was circulated to the members at the first CCPA meeting on Tuesday was changed substantially, particularly on the issue of the state’s role in matters of faith, at the second meeting on Thursday before being approved. Then in an unusual step, the members were asked to leave their final copies with the Cabinet. The finalised affidavit was filed in the Supreme Court the very next day even though the Centre had some time on hand before the March 5 deadline.
