BJP wants goverment's assurance on Ramsethu

New Delhi, Sept 14: Claiming that the withdrawal of certain parts of the affidavit filed before the Supreme Court on Ramsethu was in response to the display of anger by crores of Hindus across the country, the BJP today said there should be-categorical assurance from the Government that the historic Ramsethu will not be breached .

BJP Spokesman Prakash Javadekar said that the government had silently obtained the Court's permission for carrying out the dredging work in the Sethu Samudra Project and they should issue solemn assurance to the country that nothing would be done to harm the bridge. The Government should opt for an alignment which can save the historic bridge now under sea, he added.

He said the affidavit filed by the Archeological Survey of India was not the deed of an official but was reflective of the thinking of the UPA government. ''Besides Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress President Sonia Gandhi somebody should take the responsibility for filing this blasphamous affidavit before the Supreme Court,'' he noted.

Mr Javadekar asserted that the withdrawal of the affidavit was not enough, and demanded a public apology and sacking of the minister concerned for hurting the sentiments of the millions of Hindus in the country.

He described the affadavit as serious legal offence under the constitution.

The BJP would not only continue but also intensify the campaign unless the Government agreed to change the current alignment of the Setu Samudaram project which would damage the historic Ram Setu.

He made it clear that the BJP was not against the project if the Government agreed to change its alignment and save the Ram Setu. "Our demand is not merely religious. It is based on the scientific and environmental concerns.

He said it was true that the Sethu Samudram Project was conceptualised during the NDA regime but the present alignment to breach Ramsethu was taken by the UPA in 2005.

To a question Mr Javadekar conceded that Hinduism allowed an athiest or an irreligious person to continue in the fold but atheism was not-crime. Blasphamy is a crime in almost all parts of the world, he noted.

UNI