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Leader of the Opposition successful the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi connected Friday (June 5, 2026) alleged that the BJP’s assertion that the Great Nicobar Island task is simply a strategical 1 is simply a “lie”, aimed astatine helping industrialist Gautam Adani.
On World Environment Day, Mr. Gandhi launched an online petition, inviting citizens to articulation the run which read: “we take greenish implicit greed”.
Releasing a 16-minute video based connected his sojourn to the Andaman and Nicobar Islands successful April, Mr. Gandhi alleged that the Centre’s projected mega-development task successful Great Nicobar would pb to large-scale ecological demolition and displacement of section communities portion chiefly serving backstage commercialized interests. The task involves gathering a transhipment hub, an airdrome and a tourer township.
“The Modi authorities and the BJP archer you the Great Nicobar task is astir defence. It is not,” Mr. Gandhi said successful the video, titled ‘This is what Modi doesn’t privation you to see’. He argued that if strategical considerations were paramount, the authorities should grow INS Baaz, the naval aerial presumption located successful the Nicobar Islands, a determination that the Congress would afloat support.
“The Navy has been asking for enlargement for 5 years. If you privation to marque a subject argument, grow INS Baaz. There is nary request to destruct rainforests for that,” helium said, adding, “INS Baaz is besides connected the coast. The constituent is that they privation to assistance Mr. Adani and these criminals are hiding down the Navy, down the forces, to bargain Indian land. They are saying they privation to physique a transshipment port, but it is simply a non-starter arsenic they are already gathering a larboard successful Kerala, which is connected the mainland truthful that is the archetypal lie.”
Alleging that the task was intended to facilitate large-scale commercialized development, including hotels and casinos, helium said much than 1.5 crore trees, past rainforests and coral reefs were nether threat. And the size of the country that is being talked astir for times the size of New Delhi.
In a station connected X, Mr. Gandhi said helium had visited Indira Point, interacted with settlers and tribal communities, and witnessed the island’s ecological richness archetypal hand. He alleged that tribal communities were being deprived of their onshore successful usurpation of the Forest Rights Act and that settlers were not receiving just compensation.
“What benignant of India bash you privation to inherit? One wherever rainforests person been bulldozed for casinos, coral reefs erased from maps, tribal communities pushed disconnected their land, and the aerial we respire turned into poison? Or 1 wherever India’s earthy practice is protected, our tribal communities are safe, and advancement works with quality not against it,” Mr. Gandhi asked, urging youngsters to motion his petition.
The Congress person maintained that helium was not opposed to improvement but favoured what helium described arsenic “ecologically balanced development”. Great Nicobar, helium said, had the imaginable to go a planetary exemplary for sustainable tourism and conservation.
In a abstracted post, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge broadened the onslaught connected the government’s biology record, accusing it of weakening India’s biology governance model and presiding implicit large-scale ecological degradation. Citing authoritative figures and task clearances, Mr. Kharge claimed that astir 1.92 lakh hectares of wood onshore had been diverted implicit the past 11 years and that much than 1.6 crore trees had been felled since 2014.
