BJP Rajya Sabha MP Subramanian Swamy has been a vocal advocate of prominent causes close to the Hindu right.
After regularly tweeting and calling for the Narendra Modi government to act to begin construction of a grand Ram temple in Ayodhya, Swamy on Monday renewed his call for declaring the Ram Setu a national heritage monument.
It took me&Gadkari 4 years to make Govt. tell SC that Sethusamundram project has been scrapped. Now after 4 3/4 years Ram Setu is not a National Heritage Monument. The building in Shimla where Nehru had his illicit affair with Edwina has been declared so. Not Ram Setu?!!
— Subramanian Swamy (@Swamy39) January 14, 2019
And in a style that has become typical of Swamy, he also used the opportunity to target symbols associated with the opposition Congress. This time, it was the country's first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, and his relationship with Edwina Mountbatten, the wife of British India's last viceroy.
On Monday, Swamy tweeted, “It took me&Gadkari 4 years to make Govt. tell SC that Sethusamundram project has been scrapped. Now after 4 3/4 years Ram Setu is not a National Heritage Monument. The building in Shimla where Nehru had his illicit affair with Edwina has been declared so. Not Ram Setu?!!”
Claims of an affair between Nehru and Edwina have frequently been circulated by critics of the Congress. While Swamy did not specify the building in Shimla where Nehru allegedly met with Edwina, it may be a reference to the Viceregal Lodge, which was a residence of the viceroy and was also the place where the partition of British India was formalised. The building, which houses Indian Institute of Advanced Studies, has been a heritage site.
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The Ram Setu, a chain of limestone shoals off Rameswaram in Tamil Nadu and Mannar Island off Sri Lanka, has played an important role in Hindu beliefs of lord Ram. The Ram Setu is believed to have been laid by the army accompanying lord Ram to Sri Lanka. Swamy had petitioned the Supreme Court in 2018 on the demand for national heritage status for the Ram Setu, which would restrict construction and development activity in its vicinity.
The BJP had promised in its 2014 manifesto it would alter the Sethusamudram shipping channel project to avoid damaging the Ram Setu. In March last year, the Modi government filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court, stating it would not damage the Ram Setu.
