The Congress released on World Environment Day a short documentary on Lok Sabha Opposition leader Rahul Gandhi’s visit to the Great Nicobar Island in April during which he met locals and spoke to experts on the environmental degradation and human displacement that a proposed large-scale development project there could cause.
Rahul, also seen snorkelling and describing the unique biodiversity and natural beauty of the place, launched a webpage, rahulgandhi.in/nicobar-matters, inviting endorsements for his "Green Over Greed" initiative against the government's Great Nicobar Island Development Project. The project seeks to create a port, an airport, a power plant and a town in the fragile ecosystem.
Rahul wrote on social media: "...Tribal communities, whose land is being taken away by violating the Forest Rights Act. Settlers, many of them former soldiers, placed on these islands by the Indian government, who aren’t getting fair compensation. The Modi government and BJP tell you the Great Nicobar Project is about defence. It is not..."