This is the same \u201cthinking component\u201d of the Indian society about which our Prime Minister claimed that they are supportive of nuclear power in general and Koodankulam nuclear power project in particular. He also used the opportunity to blame \u201cthe foreign hand\u201d for anti-nuclear protests in India. But PM\u2019s claim proved to be as hollow and contrary as his previous claim before Grorge Bush that all Indians love him !<\/p>\n
Several eminent citizens, concerned about nuclear safety and the government\u2019s campaign of slander against the Koodankulam anti-nuclear plant agitation in Tamil Nadu, have signed a public statement denouncing the government\u2019s high-handedness against the peaceful protesters in Koodankulam. This statement was released today [5 Mar 2012] in New Delhi in a press conference addressed by senior journalist and peace activist Praful Bidwai, Anil Chaudhary of Indian Social Action Forum and P K Sundaram, Research Consultant, \u00a0Coalition for Nuclear Disarmament and Peace (CNDP).<\/p>\n
They include Aruna Roy, Harsh Mander, Farah Naqvi and AK Shivakumar, all members of the government\u2019s National Advisory Council; social scientists Romila Thapar, Deepak Nayyar, Amit Bhaduri, Sumit and Tanika Sarkar, Rajeev Bhargav, Ramachandra Guha, Zoya Hasan and Nandini Sundar; former Atomic Energy Regulatory Board chairman A Gopalakrishnan, and former civil servants\/diplomats SP Shukla, EAS Sarma and Nirupam Sen.<\/p>\n
The signatories also include writers Arundhati Roy, Adil Jussawalla and Vandana Shiva; scientists PM Bhargava, MV Ramana, Suvrat Raju, Shankar Sharma and Vineeta Bal; former Navy chiefs L Ramdas and Vishnu Bhagwat, and Maj-Gen SG Vombatkere; former High Court judges Hosbet Suresh and BG Kolse-Patil; and activists and others such as\u00a0Surendra Gadekar, Shabnam Hashmi, Ashish Kothari, Sharmila Tagore, Ram Manohar Reddy, Sadanand Menon, Sumit Chakravartty and Sripad Dharmadhikari.<\/p>\n
The statement is of vital public importance in view of the government\u2019s plans to forge ahead with nuclear power expansion regardless of its safety and economic issues, and strong public opposition to new nuclear reactors.<\/p>\n
STATEMENT:<\/strong><\/p>\n Stop Harassing Anti-nuclear Activists in Koodankulam: Say Eminent Citizens<\/em><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n March 5, 2012<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n We are dismayed and pained at the government\u2019s campaign of vilification of the sustained popular movement against the Koodankulam nuclear plant, which has raised vital issues of atomic safety. These issues have assumed pivotal importance worldwide after the Fukushima disaster, the world\u2019s first multiple-reactor meltdown. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has trivialised the movement, and the five months-long relay fast by thousands of people, by attributing it to \u201cthe foreign hand\u201d, or Western non-governmental organisations, without citing even remotely credible evidence.<\/em><\/p>\n This is part of a growing, dangerous, tendency to delegitimise dissent. If we reduce genuine differences and disagreements with official positions to mere plots of \u201csubversion\u201d by \u201cthe foreign hand\u201d, there can be no real engagement with ideas, and no democratic debate through which divergences can be reconciled. Absence of debate on nuclear safety, itself a life-and-death matter, can only impoverish the public discourse and our democracy. The \u201cforeign hand\u201d charge sounds especially bizarre because the government has staked all on installing foreign-origin reactors and tried to dilute the nuclear liability Act under foreign pressure.<\/em><\/p>\n The claim that all is well with our expansion-oriented nuclear power programme sounds hollow in the absence of an independent, thorough, transparent review by a broadly representative body, which includes non-Department of Atomic Energy personnel and civil society representatives. Some of us called for this 10 months ago. But the government ignored our plea. Its attitude to nuclear hazards is worrisome given its abysmal and persistent failure to protect Indian citizens\u2019 lives and rights in the Bhopal gas disaster.<\/em><\/p>\n We urge the government to cease harassment and persecution of activists of the anti-nuclear movements in Koodankulam and other sites, to drop concocted charges against them, and instead to resume dialogue. Until people\u2019s fears and concerns are allayed, all nuclear power-plant construction must be halted. There must be no use of force\u2014categorically, and regardless of the circumstances. Ramming nuclear plants down the throats of unwilling people will usher in a police state.<\/em><\/p>\n A Gopalakrishnan
\nA K Shivakumar
\nA. Muthukrishnan
\nAbdul Raheem TM
\nAbhay Vir Singh
\nAchin Vanaik
\nAdil Jassuwala
\nAdmiral L. Ramdas
\nAdmiral Vishnu Bhagwat
\nAjay Kumar
\nAjay Patnaik
\nAjaya Kumar Singh
\nAjit Patil
\nAlaka Basu
\nAli Javed
\nAmar Jesani
\nAmartya Paul
\nAmit Bhaduri
\nAmita Baviskar
\nAmmu Joseph
\nAnil Chaudhary
\nAnuradha Chenoy
\nArun Mitra
\nAruna Rodrigues
\nArundhati Roy
\nAsit Das
\nB K Pal
\nB N Thakur
\nBhimrao Bansod
\nBina Sarkar
\nBindu Desai
\nCapt Rama Rao
\nChaitali Bhowmick
\nD Sucharitha
\nDeepa Dhanraj
\nDeepak Nayyar
\nDinesh Abrol
\nDipankar Gupta
\nEAS Sharma
\nElisa Morsicain
\nFarah Naqvi
\nGabriele Dietrich
\nGargi Chakravorthy
\nGauhar Raza
\nHarsh Mander
\nHimanshu Thakkar
\nImrana Qadeer
\nJanaki Nair
\nJaya Mehta
\nJayati Ghosh
\nJustice B G Kolse-Patil
\nJustice H. Suresh
\nKamal Mitra Chenoy,
\nKamayani Bali Mahabal
\nKavita Shrivastava
\nKumkum Roy
\nL S Chawla
\nLakshmi Kutty
\nLalita Ramdas
\nLata Mani, Bengaluru
\nLawrence Surendra
\nM G Devasahayam
\nM V Ramana
\nMaj Gen. S G Vombatkere
\nMalobika
\nMary John
\nMeenakshi Ganguly
\nMeha Dixit
\nMeher Engineer
\nMili Sahu
\nMinati Panda
\nMira Shiva
\nMoggallan Bharti
\nMohan Rao
\nMr N Madhusudhan
\nMuhammaed Muhassin
\nMukul Kesavan
\nMukul Sharma
\nNabita Baruah
\nNandini Gooptu
\nNandini Sundar
\nNavroze Contractor
\nNeeladri Bhattacharya
\nNirupam Sen
\nP K Sundaram
\nP M Bharagava
\nPijush Kanti Das
\nPooja Ravi
\nPrafulla Bidwai
\nPrafulla Samantara
\nPrakash Katoch
\nPrashant Bhushan
\nPratihar Sharma
\nPrimila Lewis
\nRafiq Ellias
\nRajaneesh S R
\nRajeev Bhargav
\nRajesh Tandon
\nRam Manohan Reddy
\nRamchandra Guha
\nRamila Bisht
\nRomila Thapar
\nRupa Chawdhary
\nS Alok Kumar
\nS N Malakar
\nS P Shukla
\nS.Srinivasan
\nSadanand Menon
\nSanghamitra Gadekar
\nSankar Narayan
\nSankara Narayanan
\nSantanu Chakravarty
\nSeema Mustafa
\nShabnam Hashmi
\nShankar Sharma
\nSharmila Tagore
\nShripad Dharmadhikari
\nShruti Dubey
\nShruti Jain
\nSoumya Dutta
\nSoumya Rajan
\nSudhir Chella Rajan
\nSumit Chakravartty
\nSumit Sarkar
\nSupriya Varma
\nSurendra Gadekar
\nSuresh Khairnar
\nSusan Visvanathan
\nSuvrat Raju
\nSwathi S Senan
\nTanika Sarkar
\nUma V Chandru
\nUmasankar behera
\nV K Yadavendu
\nV.N.Sharma
\nVandana Shiva
\nVineet Tiwari
\nVineeta Bal
\nVinod Koshti
\nVivek Sundara
\nXavier Jeyaraj
\nZoya Hasan<\/em><\/p>\n