| Party sources confirmed that a view had been taken on the Setu Samudram project, which is also being challenged in the Supreme Court, and the consensus is that an expert committee will be constituted to look into the project, a move clearly aimed at buying time. |
| The canal project has been in the eye of the storm for two reasons. One is that the BJP and its sister organisations, the VHP and the RSS, have made it into a matter of Hindu pride by claiming that the canal would mean cutting across Adam's bridge, which "is actually the Ram Setu or bridge built by Hindu god Rama while crossing over to Lanka", a coral reef barrier in the Arabian Sea between India and Sri Lanka. The BJP has been whipping religious sentiments over this issue. |
| The second reason is the disastrous affidavit filed by the Union ministry of culture in response to a court order which claimed that since Lord Ram's existence could not be historically verified, Adam's bridge could not have been a part of the Ramayana. |
| The outcry that followed the affidavit has seriously worried the Congress which does not want to offend Hindu sentiments to this degree. "Till the affidavit, we could have dismissed the claims that Adam's bridge was man-made, scientifically. Now the situation is out of our hands," said a senior Congress leader. The leadership has now conveyed to the government that referring the matter to an expert committee is the only way out. |
| The DMK of course is not happy at all since the purpose of asking for the shipping portfolio for them meant the implementation of this project. |
| Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi, who will be visiting Delhi next week for a meeting with the Planning Commission, is expected to bring up the matter again. The Congress, however, is holding strong to the view that Setu Samudram is one hornet's nest it does not want to stir. |
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