How Greenpeace unites Manmohan and Modi
If there is one agenda of Manmohan Singh that Narendra Modi is faithfully implementing, it is this: curbing dissent, particularly if it happens to come from environmental action group, Greenpeace International.
The war that Singh had declared in February 2012 on American and Scandinavian non-government organisations blaming them for stalling Kudankulam nuclear plant and GM crops, is being carried forward by the Modi government in letter and spirit. This is amply demonstrated in the latest crackdown on Greenpeace. If Singh's government denied a Greenpeace-sponsored survivor of Fukushima disaster from visiting Kudankulam on the first anniversary of Fukushima in March 2012, the present government has done the reverse by denying an Indian Greenpeace campaigner from traveling to Britain to make a presentation on alleged denial of forest rights to tribals.
Priya Pillai of the green group has claimed immigration officials at the Indira Gandhi International Airport denied her to board a flight to London and stamped her passport with "offload" mark, despite having a valid business visa. She was slated to address a group of British Parliamentarians on the rights of forest communities being allegedly infringed for coal mining, particularly in Mahan in Madhya Pradesh where Essar has proposed a mining project. In September, a UK-based official of Greenpeace, Ben Hargreaves, was refused entry to India despite a valid visa.
Greenpeace has been on the radar of the government for the past few years, particularly since it began high visibility campaigns against nuclear power, genetically modified crops and coal mining projects. In an interview to international journal Science, Manmohan Singh had said foreign-funded NGOs were not appreciative of India's developmental challenges. He then professed that "we are a democracy, we are not like China", but his government soon started cracking down on Greenpeace and on anti-nuclear agitators in Tamil Nadu. The Modi government went a step further and directed the freezing of Greenpeace India's foreign funds - an action challenged by the group in the Delhi High Court.
Suppressing of dissent from civil society groups, particularly those with part of international networks, in recent years has become more pronounced. An early draft of the Biotechnology Regulatory Authority of India (BRAI) had draconian clauses to empower government to jail people who criticise technology for genetic modification. Anti-nuclear agitators in Tamil Nadu led by SP Udaykumar have been hounded and thousands of them slapped with sedition charges. Anti-GM activists invited by environmentalist Vandana Shiva too were denied to enter India.
In its overdrive to put India on high economic growth trajectory, the government perhaps wants to remove what it considers irritants like environmental clearances and opposition from green groups on tricky issues such as forest rights and public hearings. The high level committee set up to review all green laws has already recommended what the government wants - single window approval process, fast track treatment for power and coal projects, special procedures for strategic and national projects, among other recommendations. As for environmentalists, visa denials and tax notices will do.