Rahul Gandhi slams $9bn Great Nicobar project as ‘destruction’

NEW DELHI: Indian opposition leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday criticised a proposed $9 billion development project on Great Nicobar Island, calling it “destruction dressed in development’s language”.

The project, which includes a container port, airport and urban infrastructure, is planned on the strategically located island near the Strait of Malacca — one of the world’s busiest maritime trade routes.

Gandhi said the initiative would result in large-scale deforestation and displacement of Indigenous communities, warning it could have severe environmental and social consequences.

“What I have seen is not a project,” he said in a video message posted on social media. “It is millions of trees marked for the axe… communities that have been ignored while their homes have been snatched away.”

The plan has been backed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who described it as vital for strategic, defence and national interests. India’s environmental court granted approval for the project earlier this year.

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However, Gandhi pledged to resist the initiative, describing it as one of the gravest threats to the country’s natural and tribal heritage.

India’s Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav has defended the project, maintaining that it poses no threat to the island’s ecology or Indigenous populations.

Around 9,000 people live on the island, including Indigenous groups such as the Nicobarese and the Shompen, who have historically had minimal contact with the outside world.

Rights group Survival International also raised concerns, warning that the development could have devastating consequences for the environment and the survival of isolated tribal communities.