Ram's arrows were like rockets developed by ISRO now, claims Vijay Rupani

Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani today equated the rockets developed by ISRO with the arrows of Hindu deity Lord Ram, and credited him for his "engineering skills" for building the mythological 'Ram Setu' between India and Sri Lanka.

"Each arrow of Lord Ram was a rocket. What ISRO is doing right now (launching rockets), Lord Ram used to launch in those days," the chief minister said while addressing the first convocation ceremony of the Institute of Infrastructure Technology Research and Management(IITRAM), located in Maninagar area in Ahmedabad, yesterday.

Further invoking the Hindu deity, he said: "If we link infrastructure with Lord Ram, imagine what kind of engineers he had at that time to build that Ram Setu bridge between India and Sri Lanka. Even squirrels contributed in building that bridge. It was Lord Ram's imagination which was realised by the engineers of that era".

Tapan Misra, Director of the Indian Space Research Organisation's Space Application Centre here, was also present at the event. IITRAM is an autonomous university established by the Gujarat government.

The BJP leader went on to pick more examples from the mythological text to connect to the modern era. "When Lord Hanuman could not pick up the right herb which can cure Lakshman, he brought the entire mountain. We wonder what kind of technology existed back then which facilitated the shifting of the mountain. This is also a story of infrastructure development," he said.

Besides weapons and infrastructure, Lord Ram also engaged in "social engineering", he said. "Not just developing weapons and infrastructure, Lord Ram also did social engineering. He brought people from all castes and communities together. By eating berries offered by Shabri, he won trust of adivasis (tribals). Imagine bringing together Sugreev, Hanuman and the army of monkeys, it was social engineering by Lord Ram."

-PTI