Chennai:
Anti-nuclear activist S P Udhayakumar has sent a legal notice to the Prime Minister accusing him of defamation. The activist has contested Dr Manmohan Singh's remarks about foreign funding facilitating the protests against the new nuclear plant in Kudankulam in coastal Tamil Nadu.
Mr Udhayakumar fronts the People's Movement against Nuclear Energy (PMANE) which has worked with villagers to campaign against the nuclear plant, mainly because of safety concerns.
In an interview to Science magazine last week, Dr Singh had said," There are NGOs, often funded from the United States and the Scandinavian countries, which are not fully appreciative of the development challenges that our country faces. But we are a democracy, we are not like China. You know, for example, what's happening in Kudankulam The atomic energy program has got into difficulties because these NGOs, mostly I think based in the United States, don't appreciate the need for our country to increase the energy supply."
The notice sent to the PM today says his remarks "lower" the moral character and credibility of Mr Udhayakumar and may amount to defamation. The notice hopes the Prime Minister will immediately make "appropriate amends" to his statements and not drive him to take recourse to law.
Dr Singh's statements have provoked anger among activists, many of who say that it's unfair to dismiss civil society's objections as the result of a foreign agenda with vested interests.
Early this morning, a German national was picked up by the Tamil Nadu police for allegedly assisting the protests against the Kudankulam plant and deported from India. Sources said central intelligence agencies had zeroed in on Sonnteg Reiner Hermann (49), and they shared information with the state police.
Cases have also been filed against four NGOs or Non-Governmental Organisations for allegedly provoking protests against the Kudankulam nuclear project. Two of the cases were filed by the CBI; the others were filed by the state police. The NGOs have been accused of diverting foreign contributions to fund agitations against the nuclear plant.