Mahatma Gandhi Speaks to the Australian Prime Minister?

People’s Movement Against Nuclear Energy (PMANE)
Idinthakarai & P. O. 627 104
Tirunelveli District, Tamil Nadu
Phone: 98656 83735; 98421 54073
koodankulam@yahoo.com

October 18, 2012

The People’s Movement Against Nuclear Energy (PMANE) as well as our sympathizers all over India would like to apologize to Ms. Julia Gillard, the Honorable Prime Minister of Australia, for the dangerous fall she suffered at the Raj Ghat (the burial site of Mahatma Gandhi). If we ask the local authorities in Delhi why they had not taken enough precautions to avoid such a dangerous fall and why none of the security officers could prevent an important international leader from falling on her face or for not coming to her rescue on time, we may attract more sedition charges. Madam Prime Minister, this whole Raj Ghat episode reflects the authorities’ utter lack of safety precautions and emergency preparedness. And your government is seriously considering selling Uranium to these folks. Maybe, Madam Prime Minister, Mahatma Gandhi, the Father of Our Nation, is trying to say something to you and please listen to him.

The PMANE welcomes the Honorable Tamil Nadu Chief Minister’s appointing a ten-member committee to monitor and manage the electricity crisis in the State. However, it is reliably learnt that a few members of this Committee are the cronies of the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) and are working hand in glove with the DAE to aggravate the energy crisis in the State and to create a conducive atmosphere for the opening of the Koodankulam Nuclear Power Project (KKNPP). The Honorable Chief Minister should instruct these committee members to work for the people of Tamil Nadu and not for any Central Government agencies or departments.

The PMANE condemns the DAE, the NPCIL and the AERB for spreading rumors and unconfirmed reports on fuelling the KKNPP and the follow-up inspections. These agencies misguide and mislead the people of Tamil Nadu and India without giving out names and designations of the officers who spread such false news and wrong reports. Dr. R. K. Sinha, the Chief of DAE, had told the media a few weeks back that it would take a few months for fuelling and commissioning the KKNPP-1. He must explain to the people of India if he is in complete control of the DAE or there are several other power centers that could do this kind of random actions and reckless announcements and hold the country a hostage.

As the project-affected people are agitating against the KKNPP, the authorities, no matter how powerful they are, cannot and should not proceed with the project. It is our bounden duty to remind them that we are a democratic and independent nation called the ‘Republic of India’ and not a province in the Russian Federation or the erstwhile Soviet Union or the United States. If the DAE authorities proceed with the illegal fuelling and commissioning and are forced to decommission the project later, our country would not get anything in return for all the expenses and investment that we have made at Koodankulam. And the DAE will have to bear the complete responsibility for such an eventuality. The PMANE demands the immediate cessation of fuelling and commissioning so that we can turn the KKNPP into an alternative power project.

The Struggle Committee
The People’s Movement Against Nuclear Energy (PMANE)