Niyamgiri was illegal, says Rahul Gandhi

All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary Rahul Gandhi on Thursday indicated that Vedanta Aluminium’s proposed mining operation in neighboring Orissa was illegal.

“Niyamgiri was illegal. The company acquired land illegally; it did not get signatures from the village panchayats before starting operations,” said Gandhi, who incidentally had visited Lanjigarh, a town adjoining the Niyamgiri hill, days after the ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) had shot down Vedanta’s mining proposal on August 24.

The MoEF had denied permission to Vedanta for undertaking mining in the area on the basis that the company was in “serious violations” of the Forest Rights Act (FRA), the Environment Protection Act (EPA) and the Forest Conservation Act (FCA).

“The issue is not about the fight of tribals with a big corporate, but about respect for law,” the Youth Congress president added.

Gandhi, whose support for the tribal population was lauded by his mother and UPA chairperson, Sonia Gandhi, only yesterday, further said: “We can’t allow land transfer without giving dues to the poor.”

Support for Omar
The AICC general secretary also came out in support of under-fire Jammu & Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah.

“Kashmir is a difficult state. Omar is young, but has a tough job to do. We need to give him time and support,” Gandhi asserted, at a press-conference here.

Problems in the Valley have escalated recently, manifesting in a large-scale demand for the withdrawal of Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) from the state.

Gandhi, however, evaded a direct answer on the withdrawal of AFSPA by saying that the Prime Minister would be in a better position to take a call.

“The issue of Kashmir cannot be held as a part-time problem with an easy solution. My mandate, right now, in my capacity as Youth Congress president, is to direct the democratisation of the party ensuring that the youth starts participating in the political process. Where Kashmir is concerned, I defer to the will of the party” Gandhi said.

Mamata Matters
In an interaction, dominated by mention of Trinamool Congress (TMC) and its chief, Railways minister, Mamata Banerjee, especially in the light of her “cuckoo” remark, the AICC general secretary was quizzed repeatedly on his demand for respect in the coalition for the next Bengal Assembly elections.

“The coalition will not be formed at the cost of self respect,” Gandhi had said to Congress workers on Tuesday, at the beginning of his Bengal tour. Gandhi dodged questions asking him to define the variables that would constitute respect in a coalition with TMC.

Making an assertion that nothing was wrong in the alliance with TMC, despite Banerjee saying that she was not the seasonal cuckoo (seen as an oblique reference to Gandhi), he clarified, “We have coalition partners in a number of other states with other political parties. The partnership is based on mutual respect.”

Whether this was missing in the West Bengal alliance with TMC, Gandhi did not say.