Union minister Ramesh Pokhriyal.

KHARAGPUR: Union minister Ramesh Pokhriyal has no doubt that the Ram Setu was an “engineering marvel” built by ancient Indians across the Palk Strait to connect India with Sri Lanka . He also believes the Himalayas , like Neelkanth (Shiva), absorbs polluted air from the developed world to protect India.

The minister chose IIT Kharagpur’s annual convocation on Tuesday to urge India’s brightest graduates to research the country’s past and put ancient knowledge to use for the welfare of people. He also promised funds from the National Research Foundation (NRF) for the purpose.

“Is there any disagreement that our engineers built the Ram Setu? No one from America, Britain or Germany came to build it,” Pokhriyal claimed while delivering his convocation address.

“Theek hai? Sahi hai? Bataiye na, aap chup kyun hain? (Is this right? Speak up. Why are you silent?)” he said. The audience responded with mild applause. Sensing the mood, the minister added, “Whenever we speak of our past glory, some people laugh at us. But such things were here. ”

“We used to regard trees as gods and the river Ganga as our mother. The Himalayas still stand as Neelkanth, like Shankar bhagwan, absorbing all the polluted air from the developed world,” he said.

