October 19, 2009

National Alliance of Anti-nuclear Movements (NAAM)

42/27 Esankai Mani Veethy

Parakkai Road Junction
Nagercoil 629 002, Tamil Nadu, India
Email: koodankulam@yahoo.com

The Manmohan Singh government’s recent allocation of a number of sites for setting up of nuclear power plants with imported reactors from the United States, France and Russia without any kind of national debate, parliamentary discussion or public consultations with the local populace is utterly condemnable. This reckless and unilateral decision of the UPA government has to be opposed and even resisted by all anti-nuclear, environmental, democratic, progressive and other popular groups and movements.

The claim that American companies are going to give us greater access to clean and affordable energy is simply fallacious. If that was indeed the case, why don’t these American companies build more nuclear power plants in their own country first? The whole world knows that nuclear energy is not clean but produces dangerous radioactive waste with disastrous consequences to people’s health, safety, and our rights to life and livelihood. Similarly, everyone knows that nuclear energy is not affordable but very very costly.

The UPA government that operates with a colonized mind-set is simply compromising our national interests in a desperate attempt to please their imperial masters. This government is bent upon pawning our people’s health, safety and futures in the pursuit of its megalomaniac hunt for nuclear power and weapons and in the process help American and other companies create jobs for their people and make huge profits for themselves.

Similarly, the government’s obstinate insistence on going ahead with uranium mining in Meghalaya despite strong public protests and consequent environmental disaster is also utterly condemnable.

Just as the Prime Minister misinformed the former American President Bush that all Indians loved him, now he is trying to impress upon President Obama on the eve of his state visit to the United States. This kind of adolescent acquiescence is not only unhealthy but dangerous for an independent country of 1,200 million people.

Instead of behaving like a kid in the (nuclear) candy store, the UPA government should be more mature, take the people of India into confidence, initiate a dialogue with them on an important national policy such as the nuclear power generation, and decide upon policies and projects in an open, transparent and democratic manner.

We condemn such actions of the UPA government and urge the people of India to stand up and resist.