Kudankulam row: Congress says agitation not a solution

Backing the Kudankulam nuclear power project to the hilt, Congress on Friday cautioned the protesters against becoming a votary of "environmental fundamentalism".

Party spokesman PC Chacko told reporters that the government was willing to talk to all concerned. "We have been able to convince the Tamil Nadu government. We will be able to convince the people of Tamil Nadu".

"Unfortunately, the matter is being disproportionately blown up. It is being fomented for various reasons in which I do not want to go", he said.

"Agitation is not a solution.... Nuclear power station is not something that needs to be condemned," he said, adding that those agitating against it should be cautious of becoming a supporter of "environmental fundamentalism".

Noting that people in Kudankulam have genuine grievances and they fear a Fukushima like situation, Chacko said, "we are not dumb and deaf to that".

Emphasising that energy-hungry India was in need of nuclear power, he said that such projects in India were safest in the world.

To drive home the point, he said that all top scientists of the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre in Mumbai stay in the complex.

Chacko said that the safety of nuclear installations "cannot be a propaganda ploy for any political party".

He did not elaborate but maintained that the problem faced by the Fukushima plant in the wake of Tsunami are being utilised by those opposing nuclear power projects all over the world.

"Earlier Tamil Nadu government was opposing it, but after wider consultations they are now supporting it. We need power and for that we need nuclear power. Nuclear power stations are not something to be condemned.

"India needs nuclear power stations but some people are trying to foment misunderstanding amongst common man for various reasons," he said.