Indian envoy’s visit to Adam’s Bridge evokes RamSethu connections
During his first trip to the North this week after officially assuming duties recently, Indian High Commissioner Santosh Jha visited a variety of places that constitute significant cultural, and religious values between the two countries, in addition to visiting Indiafunded projects in the province.
Among the |places the High Commissioner visited are the Kankesanthurai (KKS) Port, the Palaly Airport, and the hybrid power project in Nainathivu. In Mannar, the High Commissioner met local fishermen who complained that Indian fishermen were taking their catch from the Gulf of Mannar waters. The envoy handed over deep freezers as livelihood support to the community.
While in Mannar, High Commissioner Jha undertook a ferry trip to witness the chain of sand shoals along Adam’s Bridge
known as ‘Ram Sethu’ in India in the Palk Strait. It lies between Pamban in the southern tip of Tamil Nadu and Mannar. The High Commissioner was accompanied by his wife, officials attached to the Indian Consulate in Jaffna, and a Hindu priest.
The group landed on the second shoal—
which comes under Sri Lankan territorial waters—to conduct a Hindu pooja. According to the Hindu epic Ramayan, Shri Ram’s army built a causeway to invade the island to rescue his wife Sita from King Ravana.
With the slogan “Shri Ram” popular in India these days
with the recent opening of the Ram Mandir temple in Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh, and moves underway to revive talks on setting up land connectivity between the two countries, the significance of the envoy's visit was not to be ignored, according to political analysts.