Thread by @HardFastAndFree

Indians, are you aware of what's going on in your neighborhood?

This is literally in your own backyard. Sri Lanka and China have now put the Hambantota port into operation.

This is from last month.

So how significant is this for India? Let me explain.

https://twitter.com/BRI_SL/status/1245930733933187073

Look at image #1. The thick route is what Indian ships take to reach from, say Mumbai in West India to Chennai or Kolkata in East India. Going around Sri Lanka means paying Sri Lanka a hefty sum to get cargo through.

Now look at image #2. Hambantota is exactly in that route.

Remember China has taken the Hambantota port on a 99-year lease.
thediplomat.com/2017/12/sri-la…

What does this mean? You now pay both Sri Lanka and China in order to get your cargo from the west side of India to the east through the Indian Ocean, now forget international cargo!

So why did you sabotage the opportunity (i.e., Sethusamudram Canal) to stop this wastage? Because you believed an underwater bridge (what purpose does an underwater bridge serve anyway, that too without a tunnel like the one between Hong Kong and Macau?) was built by Lord Ram?

First of all, epics like Mahabharata and Ramayana aren't supposed to be taken literally. They're metaphors that teach values and morals to the open-minded.

Let's look at the Ram Setu "bridge" with an open mind.

Valmiki states that the bridge connecting India to Sri Lanka is/

100 yojanas long and 10 yojanas wide.

1 yojana = 13 km or 8 miles. In other words, the Ram Setu bridge mentioned in the Ramayana was 800 miles long and 80 miles wide.

But what about the modern Ram Setu?

It's a mere 30 km or 18.6 miles. 18.6 miles. Let that number sink in.

What about Sri Lanka? From north to south, it's 270 miles. From east to west, 150 miles.

Contrast that to the "bridge" in Valmiki's Ramayana, which is supposedly longer than the island of Sri Lanka itself!

Was Ravan's Lanka in the Andamans or somewhere near Indonesia?

How can anybody say, with a straight face, that the tiny underwater "bridge" (that too without a tunnel!!) in the Palk Strait/Gulf of Mannar was built by Lord Ram?

This man tried at least twice to get the Sethusamudram Canal project done with. Every time he was forcibly stopped.

The project was originally conceived by Alfred Dundas Taylor in 1860. Dr. A Ramaswamy (Mudaliar) was tasked with examining the project in 1955.

Kalaignar M Karunanidhi tried to get it done with. It could've greatly benefited south Tamil Nadu in India and also north Sri Lanka.

Apart from commercial interests, it could've helped India secure its naval interests as well. But then the Sangh Parivar had other plans in mind and the project was forcibly stopped.

Today you pay both Sri Lanka and China in order to ship your own cargo inside your own country.

And no, it's not Ram's bridge, it's Palk Strait. Call it by its name. It isn't a bridge in any sense.

Those who call it a bridge haven't:
1. Read Ramayana.
2. Been to Sri Lanka.
3. Seen the Gulf of Mannar or the Palk Strait.

However which way you look at it, it makes no sense/

/to retain the chain of limestone shoals. You must demolish them in order to retain whatever you can of your commercial and military interests. Or watch China snatch them too.

Take what you will out of this.

Trivia: Vaishnavites call Rameswaram fake and say Sethukarai is legitimate. Shaivites say the opposite.

This is why religion should never come in the way of legitimate interests. Nothing good can ever come out of it.