PM, PMO, Ministers speak about Kudankulam - but why is there no action ?

Kudankulam appears to be on a queer pitch !  - reading the various news items related to the stir in fact shakes you on what is happening and why there is inaction when the Prime Minister himself speaks of foreign hand and some forces threatening to sue the PM himself !  It looks much more that what meets the eye and what is so far understood by commoners like us on Nuclear plant at Kudankulam for generating power. 

In her busy schedule, Chief minister J Jayalalithaa met the team of protestors led by PMANE convener S P Udayakumar and immediately after the meeting   the Peoples Movement against Nuclear Energy reportedly announced that they would continue with the stir and relay fast.  Now in some ways what is this fasting in relay ? – and how did they usurp the power to stop the workers and officials from entering the plant.  Why do they ask for detailed plan lay out if their apprehension is only on the running of plant and disposal of waste and how well are they qualified to reject the contentions of the experts in the field and ridicule the version of the Ex President, who himself is a noted scientist ! – Questions and more questions – with no answers.. 

Sonnteg Reiner Hermann (49) was picked up on 27/2/12 in Nagercoil by Q branch police officials monitoring the anti-KNPP protests after they were alerted by central intelligence agencies, police sources said.  He was brought to Chennai and then deported; now there are news that he had been active in mobilizing protest and he had detailed maps of the plant.  Why was a foreigner allowed to voice the protest grouping local people and what was the vested interest that he had in preventing something occurring in Indian soil ?    With the announcement of Union Home Secretary that there have been instances of NGOs diverting funds from Overseas donors to anti-nuclear protsts,  Kudankulam has focussed the spotlight on the activities of church-based NGOs in southern Tamil Nadu.  The crackdown on NGOs comes barely days after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh went public with the charge that US non-governmental organisations were behind the agitation, which has stalled work on the nuclear plant in power-starved Tamil Nadu.  For decades, it had been under the garb that Western affiliates have been offering education, empowerment and social service to the down trodden but had also been the case of proselytization, instigating the Indian youth to renounce their Indian identity. 

The lead organization PMANE itself has been shrouded under controversy and PMO made a charge that at Kudankulam certain western funded NGOs were behind its agitation.  Minister  V Narayanasamy said that the licenses of three NGOs in southern Tamil Nadu had been cancelled for irregularities. As the state plunged into a serious power crisis, the public mood also is against PMANE – the  biggest allegation against PMANE is that it is supported by the US and Scandinavian funded NGOs. There have been all kinds of insinuations on the motives of the NGOs and PMANE. Union minister V Narayanasamy has been quite frontal in his attacks.   Udayakumar has been stating that he would fight this legally and would also fight against the  former Union Minister and former Tamil Nadu Congress Committee president E.V.K.S. Elangovan for his recent assertion that Dr. Udayakumar had been jailed in the United States for three months for “drug trafficking”.

In Tamilnadu, acting  on the findings of a discreet inquiry against non-governmental organizations opposing the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant,investigating agencies  have recently initiated probe against four of them with two cases each being registered by the Tamil Nadu polices crime branch and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for diversion of funds.  Cases have been registered against four NGOs for violation of the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA), home secretary R K Singh said.  Reports gathered by the home ministry showed that funds received from the US and Sweden were diverted by local NGOs,including some church groups,to fuel the stir.  After arresting the German, Reiner Hermann, a Police official is quoted as saying that  they seized many photographs of the Kudankulam plant and those of the protests from him.

In the political polarization where even Karunanidhi has today stated that the Govt. should go ahead with the power plant, the  CPI and CPM are confused. CPM is anti-nuclear in Jatapur, but pro-nuclear in Kudankulam; they are against nuclear weapons, but are pro-nuclear for energy.  Another factor to be considered is that more than Rs. 13,000 crore of taxpayers money has been spent on the plant  which the protestors want to be abandoned at this stage.  Although the Union Home Secretary did not mention the faith-based affiliation of these NGOs, it is an open secret  of who is behind and who is active in such activities  in the coastal districts of Tamil Nadu, which receive crores of rupees in donations from overseas

For far too long, politicians in Tamil Nadu have been wary of speaking out against the activities of church groups in the State for fear of losing out on a well-entrenched voter base. To the extent that the church’s encroachment in the arena of the politics of nuclear energy has compelled even Manmohan Singh to speak out, it opens up the space for a broader investigation of the church’s activities in southern Tamil Nadu.  Without taking names of the NGOs,Union home minister P Chidambaram on Wednesday said that the cases have been filed against four NGOs after it was found prima facie that they diverted foreign funds from the purpose for which they were received.  Chidambaram said inspection of NGO accounts was routine and initial inspections revealed violations by four NGOs.The home minister said cases have been filed as there is reason to believe that funds were diverted from the purpose for which foreign funds were given.

So there have been voices and that too the voices of Prime Minister, PMO, Home Minister and Home Secretary and those of Congress leaders of NGOs and foreign funds being against the protests at Kudankulam – but why stringent action has not been initiated thus far and who is preventing such a strong action by the Govt is intriguing, to say the least.

With regards – S. Sampathkumar.