Inaugurating the 10-day Sri Ramanavami Hindu Maha Sammelan, organised by Sree Ramadasa Ashram (of Swami Satyananda Saraswathi who attained samadhi recently) on March 31, at Thiruvananthapuram, Dr. Murli Manohar Joshi, Senior BJP leader, M.P. and former HRD Minister, said the Sethusamudram project will destroy the Rama Sethu, which is revered by crores of Hindus. ?Details of the bridge are mentioned in the epics and administrative and historic documents of Tamil Nadu.? Dr. Joshi said, the bridge should be declared a national heritage.
Dr. Joshi demanded the Centre to suspend work on the canal project as its alignment is feared to be detrimental to Kerala and national security. ?If the alignment of the project is not changed, the southern coast of Kerala would be washed away in another tsunami strike.?
Dr. Joshi called for a detailed scientific, technical and strategic review of the project by a multi-disciplinary expert team to realign the channel based on oceanographic studies and also its geo-strategic implications. ?Tsunami had claimed two lakh lives between the Malacca straits, the Palk straits and the Gulf of Mannar and the views of Tad. S. Murthy, an international expert on tsunami were ignored by the PM'sOffice owing to pressure from his TN allies.?
Dr. Joshi concluded his speech by hitting out at the CPM on the Nandigram massacre. ?The farmers were slain for the sake of capitalists, by the CPM, who claimed they were the farmers? true supporters. The double face of CPM has been exposed.?
Earlier Dr Joshi garlanded a portrait of Swami Satyananda Saraswathi and described him as an evolved soul who had worked tirelessly for six decades for the unity of Hindus in Kerala.
