BJP accuses govt of delaying and denying discussions on Ramsethu

New Delhi, May 9 (UNI) Accusing the ruling UPA of conspiring to ''delay and deny'' discussions on the Ramsethu issue in Parliament, the BJP today said such the strategy was to gain time for destroying the historic bridge built by Lord Rama to cross over to Lanka to liberate Sita from Ravana's captivity.

BJP Parliamentary Party spokesman Vijay Kumar Malhotra said the Opposition had cooperated with the Government to pass the Finance Bill when the government requested such a step to help Finance Minister P Chidambaram to undertake his visit abroad. ''After the Bill was passed, not only did the FM cancel his visit but the ruling party seems to take Parliament for granted,'' he said.

''When the Opposition wants a discussion on Ramsethu, the government wants the debate to be delayed, hoping to blast the Ramsethu's hard rock by then with the imported dredgers,'' he alleged, adding that several dredgers had been damaged in the process but the efforts continued.

Asserting the day when the bridge was broken would mark the end of the UPA government, he said, adding that ''when Babar invaded India, he ordered his noble Mir Baqi to destroy the Ramjanamsthan and when Sonia Gandhi's party had come to power at the Centre, she now presides the destruction of Ramsethu using the DMK.

He said the Government should listen to sane voices of former Supreme Court judges K T Thomas and V S Krishna Iyer who had appealed the government to spare Ramsethu, a part of the cultural heritage of the country.

Prof Malhotra said that on May 27, lakhs of people would congregate at Ramlila Maidan to demonstrate against Ramsethu's destruction. ''The BJP even today is not against Sethu Samudram Project and it is just asking the government to change the present alignment,'' he said, clarifying that none of the NDA Ministers approved destruction of Ramsethu.

UNI