Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has again raised the bogey of the ugly foreign hand. He feels that US-based NGO’s are behind the local protests against the Kudankulam nuclear power plant in Tamil Nadu. Singh is a gentleman and has made only a subtle reference to such NGOs which are incapable of understanding the needs of developing countries like India. What has been totally lost sight of is that the power station is being aided by Russia. It seems that the old venom of the cold war has been injected into the political blood stream. Pakistan is relegated to a position of secondary importance. The old bipolar power plant is being unnecessarily revised in the South Block.
Of course, it cannot be denied that the US NGOs can have a far flung impact stretching to a wide spectrum. They wish to alienate from such things as Bt brinjal. But India is bent on going ahead with producing such brinjals. It is claimed that it is in the interest of the people. It does not matter if as a result our people degenerate into teen age mutant ninja turtles. And what about other ticklish issues like illegal mining and the diversion of funds for healthcare ? Such questions are brushed aside by the mandarins in New Delhi. Such embarrassing matters are merely foreign propaganda. There are enemies within who are in cahoots with such foreign agencies, they sneeringly claim. The atomic power station at Kudankulam may develop leaks spreading radiation among the people in the surrounding region. But how can we heed foreign warning especially from the US? India is on the march and above foreign canard even if it carries ominous portent and experience elsewhere is frightening?
