Why are they after "Crossing" the bridge?

...Darkness engulfed all, and all directions were obscured. Celestial bodies, even the sun and moon, appeared to be moving on strange paths. Waters were highly shaken. Although sun rays had already appeared on the horizon, the sky was enveloped by an unusual kind of darkness. The horizon shone from afar as if lit by a hundred meteors while thunders reverberated with an unparalleled sound in the sky. Mighty winds were thumping and thrashing all in their sway, sweeping away the clouds only to replace them with even darker and denser ones, and uprooting trees after trees. Such strong winds indeed, which were shattering the mountain peaks, even razing off the rock edges. When winds of great velocity battered together, the sky seemed to emit flashes of mighty lightning with terrifying sound followed by great thunders as no one might have heard before. Such was the scene when arose mountainous waves in the great ocean, which soon became possessed of terrific momentum. With tremendous speed and volume, those water mountains crashed on to the shore. In no time, water ran all over the land flooding a large distance inside the coast...

Sounds like the Tsunami, does it not, which had hit the shores of the Indian Ocean in 2004, causing havoc of an unimaginable magnitude? Well, the location is the same, the ocean is also the Indian Ocean, but the time is somewhat far removed from the present, by a few thousands of years. The above is how Valmiki begins to describe in the Ramayana that awe-inspiring series of events which, besides other things, culminated quite literally in a monumental symbol of Sri Rama: the Rama Setu.

While it is really a unique heritage of the whole world, for Hindus Rama Setu is of utmost significance. It is indeed of towering importance, the oldest surviving symbol of their cultural and historical continuity.

In spite of (or is it because of?) the significance of the Rama Setu, the present unsecular undemocratic anti-Hindu government that is ruling India, has decided to build a shipping canal, with a particularly specific configuration, which will destroy parts of Rama Setu.

While one can understand the objectives and benefits of the proposed canal, one fails to understand why the government is so adamant about building the canal with only this particular configuration, and is in such a hurry to just get it done with.

Despite the serious concerns of people, not only culture and heritage related, but also environmental, socio-economical, Geo-political and strategic security concerns, the government has not bothered to build a larger consensus.

The government seems on fire! No time to lose for such menial unimportant matters as public opinion. In fact, the impatience of the government was telling when it hardly waited for 6 months after the notorious 2004 killer-tsunami, before it inaugurated the dredging for the canal, ignoring the tsunami-concerns to the design.

The audacity with which they have openly and completely side-stepped the critical questions, and the way in which they have even dismissed the concerns of internationally renowned oceanologists, makes one suspicious of their real motives.

Their actions make one suspicious for two reasons:

First, why the adamance about this particular channel configuration, while other alternatives are available? Second, what's the hurry; why the fast-track, emergency mode of execution? What is the motivation for this single project, while other strategic schemes languish in dust? Says N K Raghupathy, the chairman of the SSC Corporation, "We have been working very hard and continue to do so with missionary zeal for making this technologically and environmentally challenging project a reality."

Adding two and two together, one can see through to the true motives, and to where the zeal is coming from.

The Indian government is led by Congress party headed by a zealous Roman Catholic Ms. Sonia Gandhi, and is in full control of other equally bigoted Christians, who want the oldest Hindu icon destroyed. Even the Ministry of Culture, under which the Archaeological Survey Of India performs, and normally which should have taken up the issues related to the protection of the heritage, is headed by Hindu-hater converted Christian Ms. Ambika Soni, who has declared in Rajya Sabha that Setu is no heritage. Supporting this Christian government are equally Hindu-hating Dravida racialist parties, from which the Shipping Minister T. R. Baalu comes, who is supervising this project.

This should answers the first question, about motive and zeal. In fact they are hardly disguising it.

For their hurry, the reason is, the sooner the better! Who knows how long this circus of alliances that is running the government will last? Based upon the election results that have been coming in for the last one year from different parts of India, there is hardly any hope of their coming back to power. So, the crusaders want the damage done before they retire to their sainthood.

But, may we remind them of this verse from Valmiki Ramayana:

...नहि राज्यम अधर्मेण भोक्तुम क्षणमपि त्वया, अशक्यम मूर्खसहायेन पापेन अविजितात्मना...
(Sri Rama instructs Angad to go convey to Ravana that) Know this, that you shall not enjoy the kingdom for another moment, by this adharma that you do, counting on support from sinful idiots, not knowing your true self... (Yuddha Kandam, Sarga 41, 70)

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