Sonia Gandhi behind destroying of Ramsetu in Tamil Nadu: VHP

New Delhi, May 5 (UNI) Warning that the entire nation would be up in arms if the Ramsetu in Tamil Nadu was destroyed, the VHP today said the breaking of the cultural heritage was part of the larger conspiracy to destroy Hindu legacy by the Christian lobby and a ploy by the US to usurp thorium deposits there.

Addressing from the BJP platform for the first time after the Ram Temple agitation, VHP president Ashok Singhal alleged the Ramsetu, which was the last remaining legacy of Lord Ram, was falling prey to the evil design of forces, inimical to the India's cultural heritage.

''The arrest of Shankaracharya on Diwali and the beginning on the Setu Samudram project on Ram Navami was testimony to the fact that Hindu sentiments were being purposely crushed at the stance of the Christian lobby of which Sonia Gandhi was a representative,'' he claimed.

Despite an alternate plan presented before it, which was cost effective, less cumbersome and which reduced distance by about 37 kilometres, the government was adamant on its original plan at the diktat of the US and because Sonia Gandhi doesn't want it, said the VHP leader.

''The destruction was being done at the behest of the United States which wants to take the 3.6 lakh tonne thorium deposit, India's hope to its future energy requirements, lying close to the Ramsetu.'' Moreover, after the Setu Samudram project was made the passage which is presently under India would become international waters thus taking the advantage from us, he told the gathering.

Besides this, the Ramsetu was acting as a buffer against natural calamities like tsunami and sea storms and once it is removed the whole of Kerala would be washed off in case of a Tsunami, Mr Singhal informed.

''Due the government's intransient attitute and insolency, which was bent upon destroying India's cultural heritage overriding Hindu sentiments, we are being forced to take to the streets and resort to agitation to get our point across.'' But even then if the government remains adamant on its stance, as Union minister T R Baalu was making it out, we would take the issue on the scale of the Ram Temple agitation and mobilise the entire nation that would then compel it to beat a retreat, the VHP leader added.

UNI