NPCIL chief sees ‘foreign hand’ in TN anti-nuke protests

The ubiquitous 'foreign hand' – on which former prime minister Indira Gandhi was accustomed to blaming virtually every ill besetting India – is back, this time in connection with the protests against the Russian-aided Kudankulam Atomic Power Project (KAPP) in Tamil Nadu.

Foreigners are playing a key role in the agitation against the project and "scuttling" its progress, Nuclear Power Corp chairman and managing director S K Jain said on Friday.

Speaking to reporters at the founder's day programme of the Bhaba Atomic Research Centre to mark the 102nd birth anniversary of Dr Homi Bhabha, the founder of India's nuclear power programme, Jain said, "Foreign nationals who are greens from the US, Finland, France, Australia and Germany are now at Kudankulam opposing the project. They are backing the local population in their agitation."

Protests against the nuclear project began soon after its inception, and gathered momentum around July after the Fukushima disaster in Japan.

They have become particularly severe over the last 12 days, with massive hunger strikes and various communities in villages around the site, including fishermen, joining in. The latter are refraining from taking their boats out to sea.

Jain said the foreigners have joined a splinter group led by Udaya Kumar, a local anti-nuclear activist. He said the agitation began when hot tests at the plant were completed and safety drills were in progress.