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After the Ram temple issue, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) has decided to take up the issue of Ram Setu that, it says, was facing a threat from the Setu Samudram Channel Project (SSCP).

(Ram Setu is the legendary bridge constructed by Lord Ram to cross the sea to go to Lanka).

The RSS's move to focus on the Ram Setu issue is being seen as another bid of the saffron brigade to keep 'Ram' on the centre stage during the coming Vidhan Sabha poll. The RSS and its frontal organisations would launch a nationwide agitation to demand change in SSCP route from Ram Navmi on March 27, to Baisakhi on April 13, 2007.

A resolution, condemning what it called obstinate and reckless attitude of the UPA government, was passed on the second day of the Akhil Bharatiya Pratinidhi Sabha (ABPS) in Lucknow on Saturday.

Talking to mediapersons the all India prachar pramukh of RSS Adhish said at least four alternative routes were available to implement the SSCP. "We are not against development," he said, adding that the bridge was the oldest man-made structure and has been mentioned in the records as Adam's bridge.

"The SSCP proposes to destroy Ram Setu," he said adding that by going ahead with the SSCP the Union Government was unabashedly trampling upon sentiments of crores of Hindus. "The ABPS also wants to register its protest over the highly condemnable statement of the Union Minister for Shipping TR Balu for calling the opponents of the SSCP anti-national," he said, adding that the bridge was in use till the 15th century. NASA's satellite images have clearly shown the 33-km long Adam's bridge, he said adding that the monument deserved protection as a heritage site under Unesco mandate.

Significantly, giving a new twist to the environmentalists' campaign to protect ancient monuments, the RSS resolution said structures like the Taj Mahal in Agra and Kutub Minar in Delhi have been saved from destruction due to public and judicial intervention. "While the above two structures date back to a few hundred years, the Ram Setu's historical antiquity goes back to several millennia," said the resolution.

"The ABPS warns that the resumption of the project in the present form is fraught with serious consequences and advises that an experts' committee, consisting of marine archeologists, seismologists environmentalists etc should be formed as advised by the Ramnathpuram court to explore alternative routes that do not damage the sacred Ram Setu and yet fulfill the objectives of this commercially very important project."

Another resolution adopted at the ABPS relates to 150th anniversary of the 1857 war of independence. The RSS would work to awaken the people on the issue, said Adhish.

Various frontal organisations of RSS have worked out programmes to mark completion of 150th anniversary of 1857 war of independence. The Poorv Sainik Parishad of RSS would take out a yatra from Manipur to New Delhi, he said the yatra to commence on April 14, 2007 would reach Meerut on May, 10, 2007 and Delhi on May 12, 2007.

The RSS would extensive programmes to pay homage to martyrs of 1857, he said adding that calling the events of 1857 as the "Sepoy Mutiny" could not be justified.