Accusing the LDF Government in Kerala of walking into a trap laid by the Centre to promote corporate interests, a group of prominent civil society leaders in India including researchers, academics and activists has penned an open letter to the CPI(M) national leadership calling for steps to scrap the Silverline semi high speed rail corridor project.
The letter said the State- wide protests against the project could not be simply passed over as ‘politically motivated.’
“We understand that they are genuine community voices, and many of them are voices from the same people who stood strongly with the Left Democratic Front and had voted the LDF to power”.
These voices need to be read as warning signals, it warned, adding that these people could gravitate to the right wing, posing a threat to the ruling LDF.
The letter pointed out that many of the co-travellers of the political Left – including social scientists, economists, civil society movements, environmentalists, engineers, writers, cultural leaders, journalists and development economists had also warned against going ahead with the project, citing its environmental and economic impact on the state.
The government, it noted, had been clearly warned, repeatedly and persistently, of the various pitfalls of this project. including the huge cost and duration of implementation, poor project documents replete with inadequacies, data manipulation, deficient methodologies, and even data fudging.
Pointing out that the CPI(M) had opposed the high speed rail project on the Mumbai- Ahmadabad route, the letter said it was shocking to see the party using all means, including coercion to silence the strong voices of protest against the Silveline project.
The signatories representing various women’s and human rights organisations, people’s movements, research organisations and environmental groups felt that the communist parties and the Left, especially the CPI(M) and the CPI should desist from falling into the same line of thinking as the other neo-liberal parties in India. They called on the State government to scrap the project and return to a people-centric and inclusive development agenda.
