BJP talking about the environment is like the World Bank talking about poverty eradication or the IS (Islamic State) talking about peace. One of the first things the https://sabrangindia.in/tags/compensation-billModi regime did was to mercilessly decline Presidential assent to the Plachimada/Cola compensation Bill passed by the Kerala Assembly. Coca Cola had turned the village into a Somalia, and Modi rewarded them.
It was funny to see the water man, Rajendra Singh of Magsaysay fame standing together with them at the Sasthamkotta lake but not entirely surprising to see him join the BJP mela*
(Photo: A Cola victim, Thankavelu, son of Mayilamma helplessly looking at his well rendered useless by the cola company)
What Sangh Parivar rule has done to Gujarat is a good lesson for the country to learn from. The state has been turned into an ecological nightmare. A whole river was all but eliminated by design- the fate of the Sabarmati. The groundwater of a good 70 talukas is today polluted. The golden industrial triangle is one the world’s pollution hotspots. Alang coast has been turned into a hell on earth, with dead ships from around the world coming to be buried. 400 water bodies with about 2000 sq km water area in the state have disappeared when the Narmada was being regimentally dammed. And the Kalpasar project to destroy the entire gulf of Khambhat is waiting in the wings…to "happen"
One of the first things Modi did when came to power was to seek to amend the conservation laws, for which it formed the Subrahmanian committee which gave lethal recommendations to open up our forests to the business sector.
It was surprising that some state government functionaries were seen playing a key role in this campaign of a political party. BJP has also roped in someone who was associated with the Plachimada which amounts to an insult to the people of the village and their brave struggle..and to the memory of the movement's leader Mayilamma whose death anniversary will be observed tomorrow…The Jala Swaraj is obviously a gimmick by the BJP for cynical political mobilisation….
From a Facebook Post of S. Faizi
* (The Ramon Magsaysay Award is an annual award established to perpetuate former Philippine President Ramon Magsaysay's example of integrity in governance, courageous service to the people, and pragmatic idealism within a democratic society. The prize was established in April 1957 by the trustees of the Rockefeller Foundation that had opposed the Non-Alligned Movement (NAM)