Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has intensified his criticism of the Great Nicobar Project, alleging that it threatens one of India’s most ecologically sensitive areas and risks irreversible damage to its forests, biodiversity and the communities residing there.

On the occasion of World Environment Day, the leader of Opposition released a video documenting his visit to the Andaman and Nicobar Islands to see what was happening in "one of India's most beautiful and environmentally sensitive regions."

"What I found raises serious questions," he said, claiming that 161 square kilometres of rainforest will be put under threat due to this project, around 1.5 crore trees could be felled, protected coral reefs face risks, and tribal communities as well as settlers are confronting an uncertain future.

The video, which premiered at 9:30 am on his YouTube channel, is his latest intervention on the issue, which he has called a constant threat to the fragile ecosystem of the island.

In the video, he was seen interacting with the locals and the tourists.

“What they are going to do is illegally cut thousands and thousands of trees across this 161 square kms of rainforest, that’s four times the size of New Delhi! Ship these, earn billions of dollars and use them to build you hotels, casinos and little real estate play,” he alleged in his video.

“The point is they want to help Mr. Adani and these criminals are hiding behind the navy, behind the forces to steal Indian land.”

In the video, he accused the Centre of lying to its citizens because “what’s the use of building a shipment port in Nicobar when they are already building a port in Kerala, the Vizhinjam port, which was unveiled by the PM himself.”

Gandhi also questioned the Centre's argument that the project is necessary for national security, asking how the hotels, resorts and rest houses planned under the development scheme would contribute to the country's defence preparedness.

The Great Nicobar Project is a Rs 92,000-crore mega-infrastructure and strategic initiative proposed by the Indian government aimed at transforming Great Nicobar Island into a major maritime, economic, and defence hub in the Indo-Pacific region.

“If you want to strengthen India’s defence capabilities, then give INS Baaz the expansion it has been seeking for the past five years,” Rahul Gandhi said in the video.

Rahul Gandhi asserted that local communities were being stripped of their land rights, claiming that many residents were made to sign No Objection Certificates (NOCs) without fully understanding what they were consenting to.

During an earlier visit to the island, which he had posted on the X platform on April 29, the Rae Bareilly MP had accused the project of destroying rainforests and displacing communities under the guise of development.

"The government calls what it is doing here a 'Project'. What I have seen is not a project. It is millions of trees marked for the axe. It is 160 square kilometres of rainforest condemned to die," Rahul had posted on X.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge also accused the Modi government of undermining environmental protections by weakening governance mechanisms and allowing the gradual depletion of India's forests.

"On World Environment Day, it is time to stop the further degradation of our forests, rivers, oceans, air, and habitats. While PM Modi publicly urges citizens to cope with rising heat through symbolic gestures such as 'staying hydrated' to overcome the sweltering temperatures, his Govt is simultaneously presiding over one of the most aggressive and large-scale assaults on India's ecological wealth in recent history," he wrote on X.

Official figures and project clearances indicate that nearly 1,91,922 hectares of forest have been chopped off in the last 11 years, he claimed.

"Across the country, this ecological destruction continues unabated: In Andaman & Nicobar, the Great Nicobar project threatens to destroy ~10 lakh trees, endangering a fragile island ecosystem.

Senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh on Wednesday had said that he had written to environment minister Bhupender Yadav, saying the Great Nicobar Island Project, as presently conceived, is "overwhelmingly a commercial enterprise" and the unique biodiversity of the area is being endangered.

Tagging Rahul Gandhi's video, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said the Great Nicobar Island Project is an "ecological disaster".