PM Modi to visit Rameswaram temple, inaugurate Pamban bridge amid alliance talks with AIADMK in Tamil Nadu

PM Modi to visit Tamil Nadu, inaugurate Pamban bridge, and possibly finalize BJP-AIADMK coalition ahead of elections.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be visiting Tamil Nadu on April 6, on the occasion of Ram Navami, to pay obeisance at the Ramanathaswamy temple in Rameswaram, and inaugurate the Pamban bridge, amid a strong possibility that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will be finalising a coalition with the Opposition All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) ahead of Assembly election in the State.

The visit, ostensibly part pilgrimage and part inauguration of railway infrastructure, comes at a time when the BJP’s top brass, including Union Home Minister Amit Shah, and party president and Union Health Minister J.P. Nadda, met with AIADMK chief E. Palaniswami in New Delhi on Tuesday.

This meeting has sparked speculation that an alliance, which had shattered in the run-up to the 2024 Lok Sabha election, could be back for the next Tamil Nadu Assembly election. While Mr. Palaniswami met with Mr. Shah, it was said that a whole host of issues, not least the fraught relationship between Mr. Palaniswami and Tamil Nadu BJP chief Annamalai, needed to be sorted out before any formalisation of a coalition.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s choice of the Ramanathaswamy temple and the timing of the visit, the birth celebrations of Lord Rama on April 6, is also significant. It was in January 2024, just before the consecration of the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya, that Mr. Modi last visited the temple, describing the experience as one that he would “never forget”. A Shiva temple, the site is also connected to the Ramayana, as the deity, the Shiva linga, is believed to have been installed there by Lord Rama.

The New Pamban Bridge, to be inaugurated by the PM on his visit, is India’s first vertical lift railway sea bridge, designed to connect the sacred island of Rameswaram to the mainland, touching on his “virasat bhi vikas bhi” (heritage and development) plank.

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The old Pamban bridge could no longer meet the demands of modern transportation and was suffering from erosion due to climactic factors of harsh sea weather. In 2019, the Indian government sanctioned its reconstruction. The New Pamban Bridge spans 2.08 kilometres (2,078 meters) and features 99 spans of 18.3 metres each, with a single 72.5-metre vertical lift span that can be raised to allow ships to pass underneath. Standing three metres taller than its predecessor, it provides greater clearance for larger vessels.