Satiyam, Shivam, Samudram! by Sohail Parwaz

The Indian philosopher and the founder of basic political science, Aachariya Kautiliya was the teacher and prime minister of first Hindu emperor Raja Chandragupta Maurya, for whom he put into writing the inclusive constitution explaining a government system which Kautiliya developed for the Emperor. This treatise, known as The Kautiliya Arthashastra is considered to be the oldest and most exhaustive treatise on the governance and administration of a state. Kautiliya in this Arthashastra inscribes: "The Raja longing for victories and invasions should place himself at the centre of the axis while all the principalities and states situated in the neighbourhood should be declared adversaries and whenever these neighbours are found bogged in internal or outer hitches and glitches, should be invaded and annexed forthwith. If these neighbouring countries are found feeble and fragile or having no support at all, then either they should be kept under stress and strain or purged from tip to toe." Kautiliya's advice to the Raja was to remember that the neighbours of his neighbours were not only Raja's friends but his natural allies as well. Kautiliya strongly believed that his ‘friendship and enmity' formula could effectively work for the expansion of the Raja's empire.

Chandragupta succeeded to the Nanda throne in 321 B.C. Ever since the emergence of the Mauryan Empire, the subcontinent witnessed many rises and falls. Be it the disintegration of Empire or the rise of a mercantile community, the rule of the Guptas or the invasion of the Huns, the conflicts of Chalukya, Pallava and Pandya or the political struggle between the Rashtrakutas, Pratiharas and Palas or the post-partition era of today's India, no Hindu government has ever deviated from the basic teachings of Brahman Kautiliya who was the mentor and right hand of Emperor Chandragupta. The Brahman's yearning for hegemony never depleted. In the recent past the most apt case in point is the occupation of Kashmir, subduing Bhutan, suppressing Nepal and irritating Bangladesh. No mention of Sri Lanka, with whom India shares a decades-old LTTE riddle to solve. By the way Thamby's (Vellupillai Prabhakaran) mysterious missing riddle, who was fighting a RAW sponsored battle in Sri Lanka, is soon to be solved.

About 145 years ago, a commander of Indian marines named A.D. Taylor conceived the idea of linking the Palk Bay in 1860. In all these years, history has witnessed many great events and completion of innumerable gigantic projects but the dream of Commander A.D. Taylor, to link the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Bay, never materialised despite countless appraisals and evaluations over the years. Suddenly when the project had lost all its suggested significance came the revelation by the ex-Indian Prime Minister A.B. Vajpayee that the project was to become operative.

Mr. Vajpayee entrusted the project to his defence minister until the Congress government showed them the door. Hence it provided the opportunity to Ms. Sonia's choice Mr. Manmohan Singh to feather his turban by inaugurating Sethu Samudram Ship Channel Project on July 2, 2005. Amidst loud protests by fishermen and environmentalists in Sri Lanka over the Indian proposal to dig a shipping channel through the Palk Strait, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh inaugurated the Rs 2,427 crore Sethu Samudram Ship Channel Project, to cut the sailing distance between the east and west coasts (One can easily understand that why the Indians were tasking LTTE tigers to disturb the peaceful Sri Lankans). Had this been the only raison d'être then impartial environmentalists and geologists would have not termed it as a bane more than a boon for the Jaffna Peninsula. Had that been the only rationale then the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa would have not boycotted the ceremony, while accusing the Centre of subverting environmental clearances and not addressing the concerns of fishermen and environmentalists.

The good Indian government is trying to mute the genuine fears and concerns by giving abysmal arguments and explanations like shortening the travel distance between the eastern and western coasts by about 474 nautical miles. Unfortunately, no sensible person would buy this argument, especially when he would scrutinise the selection of a controversial precinct for widening and deepening of a length between Talai Mannar and Ratween Talai Mannar and Rameshwaram was intended to dominate the waters of the Mannar Gulf and Palk Straits.

The fact is that the strategic designs of any Indian government are no different from those of the 145-year-old British Raj's representatives here in the subcontinent. Had that not been the case, the concerned citizens of India and Sri Lanka would have not made such a hue and cry and addressed the UN Secretary General through a letter with copies to the Indian president and the Sri Lankan PM. Another fact is that whichever party rules India, may that be Congress or BJP, it will not take any note of the fears and concerns of those who have fallen prey to Indian hegemonic ventures. Or be least bothered if one of their most biologically diverse coastal regions, i.e. Gulf of Mannar Marine Reserve, where over 3,600 species of plants and animals and coral reefs are found threatened by the commissioning of this project.

The increase in oil spills and marine pollution as a result of heavier shipping traffic or the threat to the fragile marine ecology of the area through constant dredging to maintain a canal depth, again are not worrisome for Indian expansionists. Fishermen living in more than 138 coastal villages and towns and totally dependent on the fishery resources of this Gulf, also have genuine concerns. About 50,000 of them, dwelling in 47 villages along the coastline bordering the Gulf of Mannar, depend exclusively on the fishery resources of the waters of the Gulf. Instead of listening to their appeals to extend the present 17.5 nautical miles fishing zone further to 40 nautical miles, the Indians are nefariously designing to encroach upon their ‘Water World'. Environmentalists, lawyers and specialists from both countries are repeatedly warning that the proposed canal could have disastrous consequences for marine and coastal ecosystems. The questions that these people are repeatedly asking but the Indians are reluctant to answer are, "Why is India interested in rushing through this project without properly studying the environmental aspects of it? Is there a hidden motive behind it? People living at India's southern tip, i.e. Tamil Nadu and those who dwell at Sri Lanka's northern tip are feeling insecure and are openly apprehensive of seeing parts of the Jaffna Peninsula eroding into the sea within their lifetime.

The Indians might remain deadpan on these worrying questions but we do have answers to them. The most important thing for the Indians is not the shortening of the sailing route for Taranga-bearer ships, but the strategic advantages which are likely to accrue from this project. The foremost reason is that the country's peninsular coast runs 3,554 nautical miles but lacks a continuous sea-lane within its territorial waters. Ships navigating from one side of the country to the other have to circumnavigate Sri Lanka due to the presence of Adam's bridge, a sand stone reef near Rameshwaram coast.

But this is not the only advantage because in a memorandum submitted about 24 years back to the Central Committee on Samudram Ship Canal Project (SSCP), the State government confessed that the canal will afford secret and sheltered passage for the Indian naval ships and coast guard vessels, which otherwise will have to suffer exposure to foreign countries in the Indian Ocean and also undergo more wear and tear while voyaging around Sri Lanka. The Sethu Samudram Project has another very important geo-political dimension too, which is in fact the bottom-line. That's about the canal giving India a firm grip on one of the world's most strategic and busiest sea-lanes, which in the long run would give India astounding leverage in its relations with China, Japan and the US.

Someone may suggest that the Indians have shoved the project files in the dusty draws but those who know Indians well are fully aware that the Indians plan in the dusty draws are more perilous and death-defying.