In remarks that may deepen the row over the Sethusamudram Shipping Canal Project, the Centre today told the Supreme Court that the issue could not be one of faith because the Padma Purana (one of the 18 major Puranas) and the Kamba Ramayanam (the Tamil epic written by Kamban) both suggest that Lord Ram destroyed what is now called the Ram Sethu (Adam’s Bridge) so that nobody could come from Lanka.

The BJP reacted angrily, threatening an agitation and accusing the Government of “paying for the support it got from the DMK during the trust vote”. The Government’s submission in court, the party said, was “another ploy to play around with Hindu sentiments”.

Arguing on behalf of the Union Government before the bench of Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan and Justices R V Raveendran and J M Panchal — the court is hearing a clutch of petitions against the project — senior advocate Fali S Nariman said: “For centuries, nobody has worshipped it and even demanded it (be declared a protected monument).”

Referring to a section from the Padma Purana, Nariman said it is clearly mentioned that Lord Ram broke the bridge himself in three yojans (one yojan is five miles). He said even the Kamba Ramayanam has a reference to this act.

Pushing for completion of the Sethusamudram project at the earliest, Nariman indicated that the possibility of any study on this by the Archaeological Survey of India looked unlikely. “It will take several years together to complete,” he contended, highlighting that in the last 150 years, nobody had said anything about it being religious or that it involved faith or that it was not man-made.

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