Stop aggressive tactics!! Tolerate voices of dissent!!  

It is a matter of deep anguish and concern that the government which has the duty to protect citizens in a free society manufactures consent by violence and pressure tactics. It is really disturbing that the government adopts aggressive methods to suppress voices of dissent and those being raised against Kudankulam nuclear plant.Governments, both at the State and the Centre, are obviously too jittery to allow even isolated voices of dissent to be heard in public.Convicting anti-nuclear activists of sedition and treason against the country yet again illustrates the disdain of the state towards its citizens and democracy. The real crime of the anti-nuclear activists in the eyes of the government has been their protest against the nuclear power plant, and their efforts to sensitize the public about the ecological problems of a nuclear plant. It is undemocratic that the state attempts to create a fear psychosis among political and social activists which will only lead to the strengthening of resistance against state repression.

The aggressive and intimidation tactics of the Government against anti nuclear can suppress opposing views for some time, but it cannot hope to suppress the social reality forever. What the nuclear establishment and the political elite have been trying painstakingly to hide from the people and the human misery the nuclear authorities have inflicted globally will certainly come to light. Governments at both the State and Centre, justify pushing anti-people projects blaming all the valid questions raised and opposition, by invoking the tactics of intimidation. The intimidation tactics like foisting false cases and threatening the public of dire consequences are truly a national betrayal and a constitutional aberration in letter and spirit. The high handed methods with which the government resists people in large numbers oppose it quite peacefully and democratically and resorts to violence to coerce people into accepting the project against their wish make our suspicions about the ulterior motives of the nuclear lobby stronger.

The government is now fearful and unsure of the consequences of people's mass movement against nuclear plant and is resorting to strong-arm tactics to suppress people's voice.The police and legal action against anti-nuclear activists who were protesting in a democratic way just exposesthe government’sattitude to silence the voices of reasoning through the use of intimidation.The government shamelessly seeks to create an atmosphere of suspicion which sees anti-nuclear activists as anti-national, anti-scientific and driven by foreign forces.Anti-nuclear activists still argue that the key issues are not technical but rather social, political and economic. Suppression of public and intellectual dissent is a dangerous trend in a democratic nation. In Kudankulam, fundamental dissidence is rare, since activistsare afraid that speaking out would jeopardise their lives. The bogey of foreign hand has been played by post-independent rulers to divert the rising discontent of the masses.It is the need of the hour that the government should re-establish the rule of law and to honour the democratic responsibilities of those who express their dissent in a democratic way.  Activists expressing their democratic dissent against nuclear power are not to be dealt with by police machinery and false cases, but by convincing them with facts and figures about the case for nuclear energy. The State and the Centre should immediately stop the systematic usage of various intimidation laws and charges of sedition against activists to silence all voices of dissent.