G20 Summit: Congress hits out at PM Modi for ‘sheer hypocrisy’, ’empty statements’ on environment

The PM’s statements at the G20 and other summits globally are sheer hypocrisy. While destroying protections for India’s forests and biodiversity, and diluting the rights of Adivasis and forest-dwelling communities, he talks of environment, climate action and equity. Our statement… pic.twitter.com/JPGonG9oA7

— Jairam Ramesh (@Jairam_Ramesh) September 10, 2023

The statement said that the PM had used the G20 Summit, set to conclude today, to make “big, empty statements about the importance of environment”. It cited Modi’s remarks at the G20 Environment and Climate Sustainability Meet, and said that while Modi talks about climate action at global events, the BJP-led government at the Centre was “comprehensively dismantling India’s environmental protections and snatching away the rights of the most vulnerable communities dependent on forests”.

Further, the statement said the Biological Diversity (Amendment) Act, 2023, was a “massive dilution” of the original law’s provisions, and that it “enabled the Modi government to continue the reckless destruction of biodiversity across India”.

Ramesh also criticised the Forest (Conservation) Amendment Act, 2023. His statement also pointed out that Mizoram, an NDA-ruled state, had passed a resolution opposing the Act, and that the Nagaland Assembly was also expected to do the same soon. It said that the Act “is only paving the way for the Modi government to exploit forests and hand them over to a few select crony capitalist friends”.