Just days ago, the prime minister used the Vibrant Gujarat event to project India to the world’s investors. On Monday, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon spoke of the importance of India in the region, for disarming South Asia, stabilising Afghanistan and facing global scourges like terrorism and climate change. Between these stirring events, a Greenpeace activist was offloaded from a Delhi-London flight. Her name was allegedly on a lookout circular, which lists fugitives from justice who evade the police and the courts, and who may try to leave the country. The activist, Priya Pillai, did not fall in this category. She was travelling to London to make a presentation on tribal affairs to British MPs. However, her organisation has agitated against Mahan Coal Ltd, a joint venture between Essar and Hindalco in Singrauli, Madhya Pradesh. It has argued in court that clearances were secured with a forged gram sabha resolution, and has approached the government, too.
Due process and democracy, those magnets of investment, will evaluate this charge. The government only needed to wait. But it chose to curb the freedom of movement of a Greenpeace activist, physically preventing her from spreading the bad news overseas. A nation which wants to project itself as a serious power should have the confidence to tolerate dissent and deal with bad publicity.
