On The Sethusamudram Case

[Press statement issued by the politbureau of the CPI(M)]

The Government of India has taken an appropriate decision to withdraw certain paragraphs in the affidavit filed by the Archaeological Survey of India in the Supreme Court in the Sethusamudram case that were considered extraneous to the matter at hand.

That said, it must be reiterated that there is no scientific evidence whatsoever that a manmade structure, the Adams bridge (or the Ram Setu) exists in the Palk Straits. What exists are natural formations.

As far as the project itself is concerned it is the BJP government under Shri Vajpayee's leadership which had sanctioned the project in the first place. To oppose it now on religious grounds is sheer hypocrisy on the part of the BJP. Its efforts to play up the "Ram Setu" issue is nothing but bankrupt communal politics which once again confirms that the BJP has no constructive agenda to offer.