Sethu is all politics, no chance of revival
A shipping project that went into a coma in 2007 after the Supreme Court’s intervention and was declared dead about a couple of years ago is sought to be resurrected by the ruling DMK in Tamil Nadu. A few days ago, it passed a resolution in the state Assembly demanding the revival of the Sethusamudram ship canal project to link the Gulf of Mannar with Palk Strait to avoid ships going around Sri Lanka from one Indian coast to another. Since it was part of the DMK manifesto, the party had to bring it up at some point in time during its current tenure. The project took off when DMK leader M Karunanidhi had leverage in UPA-I before public pressure against the canal cutting through what is called the Ram Setu drew the SC’s intervention. The Ram Setu is a chain of limestone shoals between Pamban Island and Mannar Island. Popular belief is that the army of Lord Ram built it.
After Narendra Modi came to power, the government first said it would explore an alternative alignment without damaging the Ram Setu but found it unfeasible. It concurred with the Pachauri panel appointed by the UPA regime, which said the project was economically unviable and ecologically unsustainable. While the Modi government picked up and operationalised quite a few schemes conceived by the UPA, allowing a project that damages the Ram Setu can be ruled out, especially when it is preparing to make the construction of a mega Ram temple in Ayodhya a calling card in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
The DMK’s gambit comes when the Centre appears to be squirming at the demand of BJP leader Subramanian Swamy to declare Ram Setu a national heritage monument. Failing to get the Centre’s response, the maverick Swamy moved the Supreme Court to coax it. The government first promised to file its affidavit by December 12 but later sought until February first week to do so. The matter will be heard next month.
A few weeks ago in Parliament, there was needless flutter after Union minister for science Jitendra Singh’s matter-of-fact response on Ram Setu, saying it was difficult to pinpoint the exact structure that existed there based on satellite data. The ASI has reportedly commissioned an underwater study to determine how it was formed. The matter ought to rest there till there is conclusive proof either way.