Key Points

Tharoor mentioned the importance of development and having a strategic base on the island, but stressed it can also be done in an ecological manner.

"This is a serious issue. Development is important and so is having a strategic base in the Islands, but they can be done without the ecological and human devastation that Smt Sonia Gandhi ji so eloquently outlines in her article. It's time for a serious rethink," Tharoor wrote.

Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra had on Monday shared Sonia Gandhi's "thought-provoking" newspaper column, which highlights the alleged injustices faced by the Nicobar residents and the side effects of the Great Nicobar Island project.

The Great Nicobar Island Project is a major Indian government initiative on Great Nicobar Island aimed at holistic development and strategic positioning, featuring a transhipment port, an international airport, an energy plant, and a township.

"The Great Nicobar Island Project is a grave misadventure, trampling on tribal rights and making a mockery of legal and deliberative processes. Our collective conscience cannot, and must not, stay silent when the very survival of the Shompen and Nicobarese tribes is at stake. Our commitment to future generations cannot permit this large-scale destruction of a most unique ecosystem. We must raise our voice against this travesty of justice and this betrayal of our national values." CPP Chairperson Sonia Gandhi ji pens a thought-provoking column in today's edition of The Hindu," Priyanka Gandhi Vadra wrote on 'X'.

"This is a serious issue. Development is important and so is having a strategic base in the Islands, but they can be done without the ecological and human devastation that Smt Sonia Gandhi ji so eloquently outlines in her article. It's time for a serious rethink," the 'X' post read.

Earlier today, Lok Sabha LoP Rahul Gandhi had also reposted Sonia Gandhi's column on 'X'.

In a post shared on X, Rahul Gandhi said, "The Great Nicobar Island Project is a misadventure, trampling on tribal rights and making a mockery of legal and deliberative processes." Through this article, Congress Parliamentary Party Chairperson Smt. Sonia Gandhi highlights the injustices inflicted on the people of the Nicobars and their delicate ecosystem by this project. Must read."

In the newspaper editorial, Sonia Gandhi raised concerns that the project threatens "one of the world's most unique flora and fauna ecosystems and is highly susceptible to natural disasters."

Sonia Gandhi said, "The totally misplaced Rs 72000 crore expenditure poses an existential danger to the Island's indigenous tribal communities."

She argued that the ancestral villages of Nicobarese tribals fall within the project's proposed land area, and these were forced to evacuate their villages during the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami; now, this project will permanently displace this community.

Sonia Gandhi also argued that the Shompen face an even greater threat as the Island's Shompen policy, notified by the Union Ministry of Tribal Affairs, specially required the authorities to prioritise the tribe's welfare and "integrity" when considering large-scale development proposals.

"Instead, the project denotifies a significant part of the Shompen tribal reserve, destroys the forest ecosystems where the Shompen live and will cause a large-scale influx of people and tourists on the island," she added.

The Congress leader further stated that the constitutional and statutory bodies established to preserve tribal rights have been sidestepped throughout this process.

- ANI