NEW DELHI, MAY 7: If the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) can do it in south Delhi, so can the Centre for the Sethusamudram Shipping Canal project.

The comparison came from Janata Party president Subramaniam Swamy in the Ram Sethu case when he pleaded before the Supreme Court on Wednesday that an alternative alignment could be arrived at for the project.

Submitting before a Bench headed by Chief Justice of India KG Balakrishnan, Swamy said that the state ought to give prime importance to the religious sentiments of its citizens.

Citing the incident when the Metro changed its route as it purportedly passed over some tombs near the Qutub Minar here, Swamy said “if the elevated alignment for metro rail can be converted into underground on one representation, here in the Rama Sethu the entire country is involved”.

Swamy’s comparisons did not end here. The next came on the “contradictory” stands taken by the Tamil Nadu Government on two issues — permitting Jallikatu (ritualistic bull fights) banned by the Madras High Court and “ignoring the religious relevance” of the Ram Sethu. “So how can the Tamil Nadu Government take different stands when both issues — Jallikatu and Ram Sethu — have religious belief attached to them?” he questioned.

He criticised the Centre’s 10-member expert panel appointed to review the Sethusamudram project. “Why are they (expert committee) resisting an archaeological investigation? The Government should be forthcoming to say it will hold an archaeological inquiry,” he submitted before the Bench that also comprised Justices RV Raveendran and J M Panchal.

Swamy, who has filed a petition for protecting Ram Sethu by declaring it a historical monument, said several structures and places in India had been declared protected monuments only on the ground of religious faith.

Taking a dig at the apex court on an observation made by it during a previous hearing as to whether anyone would care to go to the middle of the sea to worship Ram Sethu, he said: “We worship Sun god but we do not go to the sun for that. However high and mighty the Supreme Court may be, it cannot decide what is sacred.”