Anti-nuclear activist questions Russian ambassador's comment against protests

Chennai, Feb 26 (ANI): Anti nuclear activist S. P. Udayakumar on Sunday questioned the right of the Russian ambassador Alexander M. Kadakin to comment against the anti-nuclear movement.

Udayakumar while talking to mediapersons at an anti-nuclear conference here said no one had the right to comment over India's internal matter.

"I would like to point out to the people of India that the Russian ambassador is interfering in our internal affairs. This is none of his business. He should worry about his diplomatic affairs, not our political and socio-economic issues. I condemn this Russian ambassador and he should never speak anything more about our issues," said Udayakumar.

"We have not been sleeping. We have been very wakeful. That is why we are able to find out all these issues. This ambassador, why can't we say something about liability? Why is he hiding behind this secret inter-governmental agreement?" he added.

Kadakin had on Saturday said that the activists had been 'sleeping' for six whole months regarding the issue before raising their voices.

The anti-nuclear activist further said that the government must respect the demand of the Indian people and scrap the nuclear plant.

"So they have been saying since 2005 that they are going to commission, they are going to produce electricity, but nothing has happened. Now that eighty million Tamil people are opposing this project, Department of Atomic Energy should learn how to respect Indian people. They should not be working for foreign companies and foreign governments. This is our country and our needs, and our demands must be honoured," said Udayakumar.

Reacting to the comment made by Minister of State in Prime Minister's Office V Narayanswamy, Udayakumar said: "Now you should ask this to minister Narayanswamy, who has not named the three NGOs that have been closed down. He has not given any information about how much money was transferred to whose account, who received that money, what happened to that money, no information. I have taken the issue seriously and we have approached the Madras High Court and will proceed against the minister."

Narayanswamy had earlier said that foreign currency accounts of three NGOs spending money on the anti-nuclear movement have been suspended adding further fuel to the Kundankulam nuclear plant row.

A joint collaboration project between India and Russia, the Kundankulam nuclear power project envisaged to build two 1,000 MW VVER type reactors by the end of December last year.

However, in the wake of the Fukushima incident last year, several nuclear projects across India, such as the one at Jaitapur in Maharashtra, have run into rough weather as protesting residents and activists argue that such plants could adversely affect the environment. (ANI)