Saturday, May 31, 2008

Rama Setu and attacks on Hindu identity – Dr. Subramanian Swamy

Rama Setu and attacks on Hindu identity – Dr. Subramanian Swamy

Sunday, 01 June, 2008 , 03:33 PM
Janata Party leader Subramanian Swamy has written to Prime Minister exposing the ‘Himalayan fraud and monumental folly of Sethusamudram project’.

In the letter a copy of which was released to the press, Swamy had said,’I hope and pray that by now you have been briefed on the proceedings of the Supreme Court in various hearings held in the first week of May.

The Supreme Court has reiterated two directions which the Madras High Court had earlier given on my writ petition heard on 18 June and 19 June 2007 (subsequently your government hastily got the case transferred to the Supreme Court and therefore the May hearings of the Apex Court were in the nature of continuation of those hearings).

‘Essentially the said directions require your government to go back to the drawing board and re-work the Sethusamudram Channel Project (SSCP).’‘During the course of my arguments before the Supreme Court, I had firmly established with records and citations of past judgments of the Apex Court that the implementation of the SSCP would constitute criminal and civil illegalities.

Even you have committed a civil illegality when you inaugurated the project on 2 July, 2005 despite having failed to obtain the mandatory NOC from the Tamilnadu Pollution Control Board as required under the environmental law.

There was also an illegality committed in failing to obtain an NOC from the Coast Guard and the Maritime Board. Moreover your government committed a civil illegality by failing to honour the UN Law of the Sea (1968), and associated Bio-diversity Convention by failing to conduct a joint inspection with the government of Sri Lanka on environmental viability of the SSCP.

I am sure that if you send for Fali Nariman who is your main senior counsel in the case, he will apprise you of the details.’‘I, therefore, request you, out of personal regard for you and our long past happy friendship that you desist from any further pursuit of this illegal, ill-advised and economically disastrous SSCP and boldly take the steps to declare unilaterally that the Rama Setu is an ancient monument, a national pride, and a world heritage.

As far as SSCP is concerned, it may be re-cast by converting Tuticorin into an international container port and an international airport and connect it by a coastal railway- cum- express highway to Kolkata originating at the port.

This would be economically more profitable and consistent with the national security considerations.’Earlier this month, on 5 May, Swamy had sent a letter to the Prime Minister seeking his permission for the prosecution of T R Baalu, Union Shipping Minister, under the Prevention of Corruption Act. Swamy wrote as follows to the Prime Minister:

‘ This is first a reminder of my letter dated 1 February, 2008 seeking your sanction under the Prevention of Corruption Act to prosecute your Minister of Shipping.

Since that letter, charges of corruption against Baalu have proliferated galore in the country. Enclosed is a letter from Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) holding the chairman of the Chennai Port Trust, which Trust is administratively under the said Minister, of gross impropriety.

Yet your government have accepted the Financial Officer of the Chennai Port Trust C N Rao as the new chairman of Tuticorin Port Trust which Trust is the nodal body for the Sethusamdrum Ship Channel Project.

Kindly therefore withdraw the nomination forthwith and please expedite the grant of sanction.’No one can dispute the fact that right from the beginning, Sethusamudram Canal Project (SSCP) has been planned, organised and launched as a commercial asset for a few Cabinet Ministers in the UPA government and some of their counterparts in Tamilnadu.

According to expert, unbiased technical and scientific opinion in India and abroad, SSCP is a scientifically inconsistent, technologically non-feasible project at the present time.

The cogent arguments presented by some tsunami specialists and earth scientists of international stature have not been considered or answered in open-transparent forums by the leading proponents of the project.

Many of the vital questions raised by Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) in March 2005 were bypassed in a subterranean manner by imaginative, covert, sly and stealthy manoeuvres and operations.

What is amazing is that the top brass of the Indian Navy has remained silent or neutral on the SSCP and the brazen promoters of the SSCP — mean the firmly entrenched vested interests involved only in a private loot under the garb of public interest —— have become the naval strategists of Palk Bay!

Against this background it should be clear that there has been an organised conspiracy of firmly entrenched vested interests - the PMO, the Union Ministry of Shipping and Transport and the Tuticorin Port Trust ( TPT)-to ignore the best technical advice given by International experts about the wholly avoidable dangers and disasters of the SSCP in its present shape.

The words of the American judge Justice Cardozo are relevant in this context: ‘Means unlawful in their inception do not become lawful by relation when suspicion ripens into discovery’.

Swamy and other senior Counsels have convincingly argued and proved in the Supreme Court of India that there has been a blatant violation of the DUE PROCESS OF LAW right from the inception of the SSCP.

There is no table of weights and measures for ascertaining or determining what constitutes the due process. What is due process of law depends on circumstances.

It varies with the subject matter and necessities of the situation. Due process of law requires that the proceedings shall be fair, but fairness is a relative, not an absolute concept.

It is fairness with reference with particular conditions or particular results. Whichever way one looks at it, there has been a total violation of the DUE PROCESS by the government of India in according sanction for the SSCP.

That is why I have been asserting with unassailable facts and figures ever since May 2005 that the SSCP is a ‘Monument of fraud and folly.’

It is reliably understood that about four days ago, the Prime Minister directed Baalu to submit his letter of resignation as Union Shipping Minister, having regard to the serious corruption charges raised against him by Subramanian Swamy. According to sources, AICC leader Sonia Gandhi informally overruled Manmohan to ensure the temporary survival of Baalu.

http://newstodaynet.com/col.php?section=20&id=7978&catid=33


----- Forwarded Message ----
From: Venkat
To: Sanatana Dharma Group
Sent: Saturday, May 31, 2008 6:51:38 PM
Subject: [SDF] Ram Sethu - Watch the latest video

Namaste:
Rama Sethu is a national monument that should be preserved. A large number of dedicated Hindus took up this cause to see that Rama Sethu is protected, preserved and promoted. The more people get involved more awareness. More awareness among Hindus, more attention paid by the government. The only recourse Hindus is to work together and support all the efforts to see that the Rama Sethu project is stopped by the Supreme Court.
Dr, Subramanain Swamy has done a yeoman service to this cause literally stopping the destruction of Rama Sethu.
1) Please read the summary of his speech given in New Jersey during a Book release ceremony the Memorial Day weekend.
2) Also watch his inspiring speech on Youtube.
SDF is interested in preserving and protecting Hindu values, Hindu Temples, and Hindu monuments so that Hindu pluralistic philosophy is cherished and defended.

Dhanyavad

Sanatana Dharma Foundation

(Sent by Sunanda & Satya Dosparthi)

Below is a video link of brilliant talk on Rama Sethu and its relevance to the what is happening to Hinduism, delivered by Dr. Subramanian Swamy during his recent visit to US when he released his book on Rama Sethu.
Every Indian must watch this. For those who may not know, it is Dr. Swamy's brilliant arguments in Supreme Court that blocked destruction of Rama Sethu.

Listen to how Dr. Swamy, who is an economist and not a lawyer, relate how he argued for 8 hours at a stretch with Supreme Court justices and successfully convinced them to stop destruction of Rama Sethu. Listen to why he took up this case because he clearly saw it as another example of undermining Hindu society. Hear about the gross corruption involved, total lack of values and simple decency in the leaders of current government.
http://www.youtube. com/watch? v=3tZOUw5- P0U&feature=PlayList&p=13C6CC433448906C&index=0&playnext=1
(Note: This is link to play list and all the parts will be automatically played)
Rama Sethu book can be ordered from Kanchi Kamakoti Seva Foundation at 908-244-3258.

PLEASE PASS ON TO AS MANY AS POSSIBLE.

Synopsis of the lecture
(High level summary)

Dr. Swamy started with introductory remarks to show Rama Sethu matter in perspective. He got interested in the problems Hindu Society is facing after Kanchi Sankaracharya was arrested on foisted charges and jailed like a common criminal, for which Supreme Court of India found no prima facie charges. It brought his attention to the forces that are working to undermine Hindu Society by making them feel impotent and inferior. As he looked around, he found the same way the Hindu society targeted in several areas. Whether it is the terrorism where Hindus and Hindu temples are targeted and claimed the number of lives next to Iraq in last 4 years, large scale religious conversions of Hindus, rubbishing of Hinduism in history books in India,

He explains how Hindus who constitute large percentage can be under sieze. He gave example how numbers do not matter, because thousands of goats can be made to run for life by one tiger. Strength or capacity does not matter, because a thin whip master in circus can make powerful lions obey him. The problem he says is lack of Hindu mindset. What is happening today is mental subversion, unlike physical brutalities of Islamic invasions of the past. He says he took up Rama Sethu because it is just another example of the way Hindu society is being targeted in subtle psychological way.

What does he mean by Hindu Mind set? He goes on, it is not about doing Pujas or celebrating Diwali only. It is the corporate psychology that is needed. When 500,000 Hindus were driven out Kashmir by Islamic terrorists and living in squalid camps since 1989, we need to feel annoyed, upset and take action. We worry about one Masjid broken, every day Hindu temples are broken in Kashmir and outside India like Malayasia. When Hindus and Hindu temples are targeted by terrorists, we need to stand up against it.

What are forces against Hinduism? He gave examples of Christian fundamentalist Pat Robertson openly declaring that he would convert 100 millions to Christianity. Money does not matter. He gave example of christian CM of Andhra Pradesh YSR. As for Islam, he says they are more clearer than Christian fundamentalists in their objective. He explained how the Islamic scriptures (Koran, Sira and Hadith) drive the behavior of Islamists and how Islam sanctions terrorism. He showed it is not just in Kashmir where Hindus are targeted, it is happening in district level in India. He detailed how in every single Panchayat in Tamilnadu (40 of them) where Muslims gained majority, they stopped providing civic services such as water, school, garbage cleanup to Hindus for last 10 years with notices in Urdu that they need to convert to get those services. Failing which, they destroyed their agriculture by directing the water from their tanneries into their fields. He related how he successfully fought this in High Court of Tamilnadu that ordered Governor to take action. He explained the concepts of Dar-Ul-Harab and Dar-Ul-Islam, where this mentality comes from.

However, he does not blame Islam or Christian fundamentalists. He says they are clear in their mind what they want to do and they go about doing it. But it is Hindu who are confused about what he(or she) is and what to do. That confusion he was trying to remove by placing the whole conspiracy behind destruction of Rama Sethu.
Having given this perspective he goes about the Rama Sethu's significance in our history. He detailed how there were committees since 1860, nine of them before independence and six after the independence and not a single committee ever recommended the route that destroys Rama Sethu. How the current Government took on its own to destroy at the behest of Karunanidhi and his chela Baalu. Why so many alternative routes not considered and why every clearance required by law was simply ignored? Why the precedent where Governments in India always changed project plans in order not to hurt religious sentiments would not be followed in finding alternative to the proposed route that would hurt the sentiments of one billion Hindus (e.g, Government in 2001 rerouted Delhi Metro at cost of 500 crores and delay of 1 year, because of simple complaint from a Muslim NGO that the Metro route can cause cracks to three graves near Qutub Minar)? Why did the Government ignore 35 Lakhs verifiable signatures requesting not to destroy Rama Sethu and the protest of 5 lakh people? The same Government that will bend backwards for even slightest dissent from their vote banks, has decidedly chosen the path of breaking the back of Hindu society.

He showed with detailed calculations how it is the greatest economic disaster and the only beneficiaries are TR Baalu who owns the shipping company with ships of the size that can go thro' the proposed route thro' Rama Sethu and his son who has company that needs to clear the sand that will be thrown by sea into the dredged area every year, worth multiple crores.

Listen to the talk to become aware of the extent of corruption, debasement of our current political leaders and the conspiracy going on to destroy Hinduism from India. Listen to how he brilliantly argued with justices with wit and humor and made the defense counsel eat their words. Hear the options he has to offer to revive Hindu society and create a stronger India.

Dr. Swamy's book on Rama Sethu also provides all the details. Rama Sethu book can be ordered from Kanchi Kamakoti Seva Foundation at 908-244-3258.

PLEASE PASS THIS EMAIL TO AS MANY AS POSSIBLE.

Sanatana Dharma Foundation

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