New Delhi, Feb 29 (IANS) India Wednesday justified the deportation of a German national for raising funds for the anti-Kundankulam nuclear plant protests in Tamil Nadu, with Home Minister P. Chidambaram stating that he was associated with “semi-political protest” here.
Chidambaram also supported the two 1,000 MW nuclear reactors going operational soon, saying the will of a majority of the people of Tamil Nadu, which is reeling under power shortage, should prevail.
India and Russia had this week discussed the operationalisation of the Kudankulam plant, as announced by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during his visit to Moscow in December last year.
At a monthly press conference to present his ministry’s report card, Chidambaram said the German national had been issued a tourist visa and “a tourist cannot associate with activities such as a semi-political protests”.
The German national, Sonnteg Reiner Hermann, 49, had visited India on several occasions earlier too on a tourist visa. After he was “identified and found staying in the area” of the Kudankulam protests, he was “therefore asked to leave the country”, Chidambaram said.
He also noted that Hermann had a look-out notice issued for him by the central government for participating in the anti-Kudankulam protests after coming to India on a tourist visa.
Despite the notice, Hermann entered India this time as there was some information missing at the immigration department. In view of this lapse, the immigration has been asked to inquire into how he got into the country.
Chidambaram, however, said there had been no security breach in the German entering India when a look-out notice was issued for him, saying “he is not a terrorist”.
Hermann was deported from India Tuesday on grounds of raising funds for protests against the Kudankulam project.
Chidambaram also said India faced huge power shortages and all forms of power sources should be tapped to bridge that huge gap between demand and supply to continue with the country’s high growth rate.
“The will of a majority of the people of Tamil Nadu should be allowed to prevail,” he said, indicating that the anti-Kudankulam sentiment existed only among a few people of the state.
On the cases against the NGOs organising the agitation against the Kudankulam plant, Chidambaram said the Central Bureau of Investigation and the state police were asked to file cases against two NGOs each after preliminary probe revealed that they had diverted some funds from purposes for which they were originally meant under the Foreign Contribution Regulation (FCR) Act.
Further probe will reveal more on the four NGOS, the home minister said, adding that the investigations involved more NGOs for FCR Act violations.
