Destruction dressed in development’s language: Rahul Gandhi calls Nicobar project a ‘scam’

NEW DELHI: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday criticised the Centre’s development push in Great Nicobar, alleging large-scale environmental destruction and displacement of local communities, and termed the project one of the “biggest scams” against the country’s natural and tribal heritage.

Sharing a post on X, Raebareli MP said he recently travelled through Great Nicobar and expressed concern over the impact of the ongoing project on forests and indigenous communities.

“I travelled through Great Nicobar today. These are the most extraordinary forests I have ever seen in my life. Trees older than memory. Forests that took generations to grow. The people on this island are equally beautiful - both the adivasi communities and the settlers - but they are being robbed of what is rightfully theirs,” Gandhi wrote.

He further alleged that the project would result in large-scale deforestation and ecological damage.

“The government calls what it is doing here a ‘Project.’ What I have seen is not a project. It is millions of trees marked for the axe. It is 160 square kilometres of rainforest condemned to die. It is communities that have been ignored while their homes have been snatched away,” he said.

Calling the initiative “destruction dressed in development’s language,” Gandhi strongly opposed the project and urged people to take note of the situation.

“This is not development. This is destruction dressed in development’s language,” he added.

“So I will say it plainly, and I will keep saying it: what is being done in Great Nicobar is one of the biggest scams and gravest crimes against this country’s natural and tribal heritage in our lifetime,” Gandhi said. “It must be stopped. And it can be stopped - if Indians choose to see what I have seen,” he added. (ANI)

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