Five reasons why Modi government is afraid of Greenpeace
Within a few weeks of the BJP coming to power, the Intelligence Bureau released a report which claimed that several foreign aided NGOs are stalling economic growth in India. It further claimed that the NGOs negative impact on India's GDP growth is estimated to be at two to three per cent. Greenpeace India, which has been at the forefront of many protests against mining and power projects, was termed as a "national threat".
More recently, Priya Pillai, senior campaigner, Greenpeace India, was offloaded at the Delhi airport, when she was on her way to address British parliamentarians on the violation of human rights of tribals in Mahan, Madhya Pradesh.
It is clear that the BJP government is on a collision course with Greenpeace India. But the question arises: Why is the Centre hell bent on cracking down on them? Here are five reasons:
1. Tarnishing India's image: Greenpeace is the most prominent environmental organisation in the world, and has presence across 40 countries, thus having an extensive reach. Ever since Modi became the prime minister, he has been trying to woo the international community by giving mesmeric speeches, providing aid and inviting investments in India. Since Greenpeace has a strong outreach, their propaganda against the BJP government on contentious environmental issues would hurt India's image and put a dent to Modi's painstaking efforts.
2. Campaign against Adani: Modi's proximity to Gautam Adani is well known by all. In March 2014, a Greenpeace report titled "Research Briefing: Adani's Record of Environmental Destruction and Non-compliance with Regulations" accused Adani of having "a long history of environmental destruction, regulatory non-compliance and other illegal activity, including bribery of government officials, unauthorised construction and tax evasion". This direct attack on Adani is suspected to be the reason behind the Intelligence Bureau's indictment on Greenpeace and other NGOs. Furthermore recently, Greenpeace flayed Adani's proposed coal mining project in Australia, which received a $1 billion loan from SBI.
3. Make in India: Modi's pet programme Make in India, which aims to transform India into a global manufacturing hub, advocates for genetically modified (GM) crops. Modi has invited investments from abroad for making India a transgenic crop destination, which has been vociferously protested by Greenpeace. Although, the government stopped the advocacy for a bit, owing to RSS' pressure, but in November 2014, the Union environment minister, Prakash Javadekar backed field trials of GM crops and invited investors to look at the potential of business opportunities. Greenpeace has been raucously protesting against GM crops and given that they might find the backing of certain states and organisations, it will encumber Make in India's investment targets.
4. Funding Clearance by Delhi High Court: Yesterday, the Delhi HC directed the government to unblock Greenpeace's foreign funds, which they had frozen earlier after the IB report. The government fears that Greenpeace' continuous protests and lobbying will stall and hamper various developmental projects. The Delhi HC's reversal of the government' decision is bound to worry the BJP immensely.
5. Encouragement for other NGOs: If Greenpeace is allowed to run free, buoyed by its success; other NGOs will mobilise themselves, and impede BJP's economic agenda by thwarting several projects which will not allow the government to achieve the desired investment targets. Such mobilisation will be disadvantageous to Modi's vision of making India the number one business friendly destination.