UPA committed to destroying Ram Setu: BJP

“It (government) withdrew it only after there was widespread outrage,” he said, insisting that the government was required to fix ministerial accountability for the affidavit.

The BJP leader accused the government of plotting to destroy the Ram Setu, which has been mentioned in Ramayana citing its moves to seek court permission for dredging the waterway as part of the Sethusamudram project.

“The government is unequivocally committed to destroying the Ram Setu, which we will never allow,” he remarked.

Asked why his party did not oppose the project when it was cleared during the NDA rule, he claimed there was no proposal at that stage that it would have to pass through the Ram Setu.

He said his party was not opposed to the project itself but wanted its realignment to save the bridge.

“I do not agree with that,” he said when pointed to allegations that the BJP had lost credibility over Hindu religious issues because it did not build a Ram temple while being in power.

“This is not the subject of the day,” he said when asked how his party leader L K Advani proposed to meet AIADMK chief J Jayalalithaa, whom the BJP had vociferously attacked over the arrest of the Kanchi Shankaracharya when she was in power.

“But we welcome her statement on Ram Setu.”