A massive protest rally will be held at Ramlila Grounds of Delhi on May 13 to save the historic Ram Sethu and also to pressurise the central government to follow the alternate route for Sethusamudram Ship Canal Project. About two lakh people are expected to participate in the rally, which will be jointly organised by Vishwa Hindu Parishad, Hindu Dharma Acharya Sabha and Akhil Bharatiya Sant Samiti under the banner of newly formed Shri Ram Sethu Raksha Manch (Delhi). ?The protest meeting will remind the government of the rallies held in Delhi after the infamous Meenakshipuram incident and before the shilanyas of Shri Ram temple in Ayodhya. The government will be forced to either change the route of the project or scrap it forever,? said VHP president Shri Ashok Singhal. He was addressing a gathering of prominent workers of Sangh and its associated organisations who met at Udasin Ashram in Delhi on April 24 to chalk out plans for the protest rally.
Representatives from ABVP, BMS, Swadeshi Jagaran Manch, Sahakar Bharati, BJP, NMO, VHP, Hindu Mahasabha, Rashtriya Sikh Sangat, Laghu Udyog Bharati, Bharat Vikas Parishad, Sahitya Parishad, Sanskrit Bharati, Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram, Adhyapak Parishad, Adhivakta Parishad, Shikshak Mandal, Sewa Bharati, Rashtra Sevika Samiti, etc. participated in the meeting. Besides the convenor of Shri Ram Sethu Raksha Manch (Delhi) Shri B.L. Sharma ?Prem?, Kshetra Pracharak Shri Dinesh Chandra, VHP central secretary Shri Rajendra Pankaj, Swami Raghwananda Maharaj and Hindu Mahasabha national president Swami Chakrapani were also present at the meeting.
Shri Singhal pointed out that four Shankaracharyas would also participate in the protest meeting. He informed that before the main protest rally on May 13, there would be about 150 small meetings across the national capital for four days, i.e. from May 9 to 12 and over 250 leading saints would address these meetings. The objective of these meetings is to aware the people of Delhi of the conspiracies being hatched on the part of UPA government in association with some international forces to destroy the historic Ram Sethu.
Shri Rajendra Pankaj said the protest rally would shake the UPA government and it would have to follow the alternate route by digging a canal on the barren land between Dhanushkoti and Rameshwaram or scrap the project. He said various studies by scientists and experts have proved that the Sethusamudram Project in the present form is not viable and the consequences of destroying it would be disastrous.
Shri Vijay Kumar, Delhi Prant Karyavah, pointed out that besides the Sangh-associated organisations, various other social and religious organisations as well as market associations of Delhi would also participate in the protest meeting. He said the workers would use various other democratic means like sending e-mails and fax, writing letters, etc. to register their protest to the government. He said more than 35 lakh people had signed the memorandum submitted to the President Dr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam last year protesting against the Sethusamudram Project in the present form. (FOC)
