Shipping channel project creates religious furor in India

[Guest guest]

Shipping channel project creates religious furor in India

The Canadian Press

Sept. 14, 2007

 

(AP) - In India, where religion is all-pervasive, it was a

comment destined to misfire.

 

At issue was a US$577 million project to dredge a

shipping channel in between India and Sri Lanka - right

through a chain of limestone shoals and sand that

Hindus believe was built by the God King Rama.

 

The plan had already angered Hindu leaders, but things

grew far hotter after government archeologists spoke up

earlier this week. A report to the Supreme Court by the

Archaeological Survey of India said the shoals were the

result of " several millennia of wave action and

sedimentation " and " the issue cannot be viewed solely

relying on the contents of mythological text. "

 

Those were fighting words.

 

To right-wing Hindu groups, the government was

dismissing Hinduism's most sacred texts.

 

L.K. Advani, a senior leader of the Bharatiya Janata

Party, the most powerful Hindu political party, called

the government's position " an insult to millions of

Hindus all over the world. "

 

Hindu activists marched across the country. They

blocked traffic and stopped trains.

 

On Friday, grappling with the potential political

backlash of offending millions of Hindus, the

government sheepishly agreed to withdraw the statement

by the Archaeological Survey.

 

" Rama is an integral part of the life of the Hindu, " Law

Minister H.R. Bharadwaj told reporters.

 

The government has bought time by asking the Supreme

Court for three months to reframe its legal position on

the channel, and the next hearing on the matter is

scheduled for January.

 

But the decision was a major political blow for the

Congress party-led government, and is sure to slow the

Sethusamudram Ship Channel Project - perhaps for

years. It has also given enormous political ammunition

to the opposition, led by the Bharatiya Janata Party.

 

The issue highlights what most political observers have

long known about Indian politics - that the secular

political system doesn't mean the state steers clear of

religion. Instead, it most often means the government

has to walk a fine line: using religion to gain votes,

when possible, while studiously avoiding offending any

particular faith.

 

In India, which is 81 per cent Hindu, that mostly means

making sure Hindu political parties don't get upset.

 

" It is pure politics, " political scientist Mushirul Hasan

said of the uproar. " The BJP is a political party that has

blatantly exploited religious issues since its inception. "

 

The Sethusamudram project has been discussed for

decades as a way to speed the time it takes ships to

travel between India's coasts. Because the shoal-filled

waterway is too shallow, ships currently have to sail

around Sri Lanka. The channel is expected to reduce the

sailing time by more than 30 hours.

 

The present government finally sanctioned the project in

2005, proposing deepening the 165-kilometre-long, 300-

metre-wide waterway, and opening it to ships in 2008.

But last month, amid criticism from Hindu leaders, the

Supreme Court stepped in and barred all work until it

had heard from both sides.

 

There has been criticism from other groups, too.

Conservationists say the project will destroy marine life

and take jobs from Indian and Sri Lankan fishermen.

Some scientists worry the dredging could affect the flow

of currents and water temperatures.

 

But it took the Hindu protests to turn the issue into page-

one news.

 

According to Hindu mythology, Rama built the chain of

shoals and reefs - known to most Hindus as Rama Setu,

or Rama's Bridge - with the help of the monkey god

Hanuman and his army of helpers. They used it to travel

to Sri Lanka to battle the demon king Ravana, who had

abducted Rama's wife, Sita.

 

Turning it into a construction site was nothing short of a

slap at the Ramayana and Ramcharitamanas - sacred,

ancient epics about the life of Rama.

 

" It is a crude attempt at insulting our culture,

civilizational heritage and Hindu sentiments, " said a

Bharatiya Janata Party leader, Ravi Shankar Prasad, the

Hindustan Times reported.

 

The government, for its part, couldn't apologize enough.

 

" The central government is alive and conscious of

religious sensibilities, " the government said as it

withdrew its statement, according to the Press Trust of

India news agency. " The central government has total

respect for all religions, and Hinduism in particular, in

the context of the present case. "

 

http://canadianpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5izAM6

hC3mUsR0YQR5VEgNpHYWI6g

or

http://tinyurl.com/yraoyv

[Guest guest]

I am not competent to say whether Rama existed or not. It is a matter of faith

as of now. Illiad and Troy were also myth till troy was re-discovered.

In India meaningful archeology has not taken place.

Pure Historians and pure archeologists are a very very rare species in India.

I have read the Valmiki Ramayana in Sanskrit and I was struck at the accurate

description of the route from Ayodhya to Tashkent; the description of the Nazca

plains by Sugreeva.

The Mathematical calculations, smallest measurement being the correct diameter

of the orbit of electron around the nucleus of a Hudrogen atom upto the orbit of

Earth around son etc. These measurements would not have been there unless there

was some use. No one researched all this.

There is a lot to be researched.

The ASI was just being subservient to the powers that be.

We need not discuss the politics of all this. It will have some. What? We do

not know yet. Time alone will tell. But remember the “illiterate peasant” of

India is very politically savvy, as Indira found after the emergency.

 

msbauju <msbauju wrote:

Shipping channel project creates religious furor in India

The Canadian Press

Sept. 14, 2007

 

(AP) - In India, where religion is all-pervasive, it was a

comment destined to misfire.

 

At issue was a US$577 million project to dredge a

shipping channel in between India and Sri Lanka - right

through a chain of limestone shoals and sand that

Hindus believe was built by the God King Rama.

 

The plan had already angered Hindu leaders, but things

grew far hotter after government archeologists spoke up

earlier this week. A report to the Supreme Court by the

Archaeological Survey of India said the shoals were the

result of " several millennia of wave action and

sedimentation " and " the issue cannot be viewed solely

relying on the contents of mythological text. "

 

Those were fighting words.

 

To right-wing Hindu groups, the government was

dismissing Hinduism's most sacred texts.

 

L.K. Advani, a senior leader of the Bharatiya Janata

Party, the most powerful Hindu political party, called

the government's position " an insult to millions of

Hindus all over the world. "

 

Hindu activists marched across the country. They

blocked traffic and stopped trains.

 

On Friday, grappling with the potential political

backlash of offending millions of Hindus, the

government sheepishly agreed to withdraw the statement

by the Archaeological Survey.

 

" Rama is an integral part of the life of the Hindu, " Law

Minister H.R. Bharadwaj told reporters.

 

The government has bought time by asking the Supreme

Court for three months to reframe its legal position on

the channel, and the next hearing on the matter is

scheduled for January.

 

But the decision was a major political blow for the

Congress party-led government, and is sure to slow the

Sethusamudram Ship Channel Project - perhaps for

years. It has also given enormous political ammunition

to the opposition, led by the Bharatiya Janata Party.

 

The issue highlights what most political observers have

long known about Indian politics - that the secular

political system doesn't mean the state steers clear of

religion. Instead, it most often means the government

has to walk a fine line: using religion to gain votes,

when possible, while studiously avoiding offending any

particular faith.

 

In India, which is 81 per cent Hindu, that mostly means

making sure Hindu political parties don't get upset.

 

" It is pure politics, " political scientist Mushirul Hasan

said of the uproar. " The BJP is a political party that has

blatantly exploited religious issues since its inception. "

 

The Sethusamudram project has been discussed for

decades as a way to speed the time it takes ships to

travel between India's coasts. Because the shoal-filled

waterway is too shallow, ships currently have to sail

around Sri Lanka. The channel is expected to reduce the

sailing time by more than 30 hours.

 

The present government finally sanctioned the project in

2005, proposing deepening the 165-kilometre-long, 300-

metre-wide waterway, and opening it to ships in 2008.

But last month, amid criticism from Hindu leaders, the

Supreme Court stepped in and barred all work until it

had heard from both sides.

 

There has been criticism from other groups, too.

Conservationists say the project will destroy marine life

and take jobs from Indian and Sri Lankan fishermen.

Some scientists worry the dredging could affect the flow

of currents and water temperatures.

 

But it took the Hindu protests to turn the issue into page-

one news.

 

According to Hindu mythology, Rama built the chain of

shoals and reefs - known to most Hindus as Rama Setu,

or Rama's Bridge - with the help of the monkey god

Hanuman and his army of helpers. They used it to travel

to Sri Lanka to battle the demon king Ravana, who had

abducted Rama's wife, Sita.

 

Turning it into a construction site was nothing short of a

slap at the Ramayana and Ramcharitamanas - sacred,

ancient epics about the life of Rama.

 

" It is a crude attempt at insulting our culture,

civilizational heritage and Hindu sentiments, " said a

Bharatiya Janata Party leader, Ravi Shankar Prasad, the

Hindustan Times reported.

 

The government, for its part, couldn't apologize enough.

 

" The central government is alive and conscious of

religious sensibilities, " the government said as it

withdrew its statement, according to the Press Trust of

India news agency. " The central government has total

respect for all religions, and Hinduism in particular, in

the context of the present case. "

 

http://canadianpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5izAM6

hC3mUsR0YQR5VEgNpHYWI6g

or

http://tinyurl.com/yraoyv

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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