Aranmula airport project: BJP, Sangh Parivar irked at Centre

Running a long drawn resistance movement against construction of a private airport at the heritage town in Aranmula, BJP and Sangh Parivar in Kerala are now forced to turn their ire at the Centre in the wake of the Environment Ministry's nod for an impact study to revive the project.
Kerala's senior Sangh leader and the patron of Aranmula Heritage Village Protection Council, Kummanam Rajasekharan, said the fight against the move to build an airport in Aranmula would be strengthened in the coming days.
Rajasekharan, who is state general secretary of Hindu Aikya Vedi -- an umbrella organisation of several Sangh-allied Hindu outfits, said if the Centre takes an "anti-people stand" on the issue, he would not have any hesitation to consider the NDA government on the rival side.

Criticising the Environment Ministry's expert appraisal committee's recent nod for conducting an Environmental Impact Assessment for the proposed project, he asked the Narendra Modi government to withdraw the "anti-people" decision.
"There are only two dimensions in this struggle. One is pro-people and other is anti-people. We are waging the struggle on behalf of people. If the Modi government sides with the developers of the airport, we have no option but to consider the government on the rival side," he told PTI.
Prominent Left leader and former Kerala Forest Minister Binoy Viswom, however, said Rajasekharan and Sangh Parivar outfits would not be able to withstand "the pressure tactics of the pro-corporate Modi government."

"When we look at the whole scenario, the matters are not as simple as Rajasekharan thinks. We have no reservation to consider them as our friends in this agitation, if they take a strong position against the Modi government on this airport issue... But I think they will finally succumb to the pressure by Modi-led government and Amit Shah-led BJP," Viswom told PTI.
Meanwhile, project proponent KGS group said they would go ahead with the Rs 2,000 crore project and a leading firm in the country will be roped in to conduct its Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA).