Massive traffic jam as VHP blocks roads in Delhi

Activists of the VHP on Wednesday blocked roads all over the Indian capital and the National Highway Number 1 in Haryana to protest the Sethusamudram canal project in Tamil Nadu.

Activists of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) on Wednesday blocked roads all over the Indian capital and the National Highway Number 1 in Haryana to protest the Sethusamudram canal project in Tamil Nadu that they say will destroy a 'bridge' that is held sacred in Hindu mythology.

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The activists blocked bridges across the Yamuna in Delhi and some arterial roads in west and central Delhi, leading to major traffic snarls in the morning rush hour.

In Haryana, the VHP activists blocked National Highway Number 1 at Karnal, leading to a massive traffic jam on one of the busiest roads in the country.

The activists also disrupted train services at Jalandhar, Ambala and Phagwara in Punjab.

The VHP claims that the canal project, that will cut shipping time in the southern tip of India, would damage the Adam's Bridge or Ram Sethu, that many Hindus claim was built by the monkey brigade to enable Ram to reach then Lanka (now Sri Lanka) to rescue his wife Sita from the clutches of demon king Ravana.

Hindutva parties claim that US space agency NASA had the bridge in the Indian Ocean carbon dated as being 1.7 million years old. However, NASA and Indian scientists say the 'bridge' was nothing but a natural string of underwater coral reefs.