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NT Bureau
Chennai, May 30:

        Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy today said he has decided to appeal to the Madras High Court to constitute an independent commission comprising experts to investigate how the Setu came to be constructed and also to declare it a 'National Ancient Monument' which should not be damaged.

        Briefing reporters here, Subramanian Swamy, referring to the hearing of his PIL petition on 'Ramar Palam' being adjourned to 14 June, yesterday, by the vacation bench of Madras High Court, said the government of India was now finding it difficult to file a counter affidavit to his petition because the Earth Science Department has stated that the said causeway, Rama Setu, was not a natural phenomenon but a 'constructed' one which is at least 10, 000 years old.

        He also clarified that Janata Party was not intended to stop the SSCP, not play with religious sentiments, but was very determined not to touch Ramar Palam. However, he wondered as to why the present alignment has been chosen when there were alternate alignments.

        Coming down heavily on Tamilnadu Chief Minister's speech in Assembly on 4 May stating that A R Mudaliar Committee had recommended the present alignment, Swamy said, 'it's arbitrary, unreasonable, full of bias and a deliberate lie' and demanded a breach of privilege in Assembly against Chief Minister M Karunanidhi for misleading the public that the Rama Setu is imaginary.

        On National Security Adviser M K Narayanan's remark to the Chief Minister M Karunanidhi that sea tigers was a threat to national security, Swamy said that the Ministry of Defence in 1981, itself, had objected to making such a canal throughway as 'international waters', if constructed. This would be against the treaty declaring the Palk Straits as historic waters.

        He also criticised the unprecedented power cuts in Chennai in the recent days.

        'Since our alliance with BJP was forged in the last General Assembly and it continues, the Janata Party leaders would campaign for the victory of the BJP in the byelection of the Madurai West Constituency, he said.