Will go to SC if Sethu is damaged, says Jaya

“It is important to note that various experts on the Ramayana state emphatically that nowhere in the epic it is mentioned that Lord Ram destroyed the bridge,” she said in a statement here reacting to the Centre’s latest affidavit in the apex court on petitions challenging the project.

Claiming that any damage to the bridge would lead to a communal strife in the country, she said if any such move was sought to be implemented, the AIADMK would “fight it in the Supreme Court to uphold the true spirit of secularism”. “The Centre was trying to precipitate communal strife to divert public attention from more pressing problems like rise in the prices of essential commodities, petrol, diesel, LPG and milk and ‘disintegration’ of farm sector and other issues,” she said.

“What does the Central Government, egged on by the DMK leaders, who have their own economic agenda in dredging the Sethusamudram canal, stand to gain by antagonising virtually every denomination of society? After having backtracked once, why has the Centre once again cobbled together arguments to justify the demolition of the Ram Sethu at the cost of sentiments and faith,” she asked.

Jayalalithaa asked whether the Centre’s averment in court that Lord Ram himself had destroyed the bridge was due to “the pyrrhic” victory obtained in the recent vote of confidence in the Lok Sabha through “crass money power.” She said the Centre, which earlier denied the existence of Ram, had now acknowledged the fact that he had built the bridge.

If the UPA, at the behest of the DMK, continued to ignore pressing issues and persisted with its “patently anti-people actions, people will throw them out in the next elections,” she said.

Demolishing Ram Sethu amounted to destroying a valuable piece of the cultural heritage of south India. “It is a pity that Dravidian parties like the DMK and Viduthalai Chirthaigal Katchi, for narrow political gains, are becoming party to this desecration of their own heritage,” she said.

She said according to Ramayana, the Ram Sethu was built by the Vanara Sena over a pre-existing oceanic ridge and the vanaras were people, who lived in the forests of south India. “In verity, they were the original south Indians. Ram Sethu was a marvel of ancient south Indian engineering skills,” she said, adding that “true Dravidian parties have every reason to be proud of it.”

Alleging that the Centre was adopting different yardsticks for different religions, Jayalalithaa said when it came to Hindu sentiments or faith, the UPA Government became “insensitive and does not hesitate to ride roughshod over their feelings. What sort of secularism is this,” she asked.

“I am an Indian. I am a secular Indian. I was born a Hindu and educated in a Christian institution. To me, secularism implies that all religions should be equally respected… It is not for the governments or politicians to tamper with matters of faith,” she said, adding “Perhaps, the Government is taking the monumnetal tolerance of the Hindu community for granted.”