New Delhi, March 25 Congress leader Rahul Gandhi met a delegation of tribal leaders from the Great Nicobar Island, who are opposing the Great Nicobar project, and assured them that he would raise their concerns in Parliament and visit the islands to see the situation firsthand.
Sharing a video of the recent interaction, the leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha said that development should empower people, not erase them.
"India belongs to all its people, not just a select few," he asserted in a Facebook post on Wednesday.
"I met a delegation of tribal leaders from Great Nicobar Island, along with leaders of the Adivasi Congress. As I listened to them, one thing became immediately clear: their frustration is not just about a 'project'. This is about the people, their identity, and their right to live with dignity on their own land," Gandhi said.
"They told me how over 800 families will lose their land to the Great Nicobar Project, including Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups," he said.
These communities, who have lived in deep harmony with nature for generations, protecting the island's fragile ecosystem long before any government or corporation showed interest, Gandhi said.
And yet, they are being pushed to the margins, he added.
"What struck me was their clarity. When I asked who benefits, they answered plainly that billionaires like Adani and Ambani will take control of ports, infrastructure, and resources, while the original inhabitants are left to struggle," Gandhi said.
At the same time, they spoke about their daily struggles – lack of water, roads, education, and employment – he said.
Yet, decisions about their future are being made without properly taking their consent, without due process, and without listening to their voices, Gandhi alleged.
"I assured them that I will stand with them, raise this issue in Parliament, and visit the islands to see the reality firsthand," he said.
A six-member special bench of the National Green Tribunal disposed of challenges to the Great Nicobar mega infrastructure project last month and concluded that there was no good reason to interfere, as there were adequate safeguards in the project's environmental clearance.
Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson Sonia Gandhi had earlier slammed the project and alleged that the BJP-led government has made a mockery of legal and deliberative processes under the project.
Terming the Great Nicobar infrastructure project a "planned misadventure", Sonia Gandhi had said last year that it poses an existential danger to the island's indigenous tribal communities and is being insensitively pushed through, making a "mockery of all legal and deliberative processes".
This was countered by Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav, who had claimed that all clearances were obtained, and defended the project as necessary for the country's development.
