Click to play videoNew Delhi: A battle has broken out between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and some NGOs following his statement that foreign funded NGO's are stalling India's nuclear power dreams.
While the government has now sought anti-nuke activist Uday Kumar's links to a Sweden-funded NGO, the US has also reacted for the first time.
Minister of State (PMO) V Narainswamy has written to Uday Kumar asking him to explain his links to the Sweden-funded NGO IDEA. On Friday, Narainswamy had said that funding of three NGOs had been cancelled by the Home ministry.
Uday Kuamr also hit back at the government.
"As a coordinator of this struggle, it is my duty to establish that we are honest and I want to prove our integrity," he said.
The war is now out in the open. Under diplomatic pressure and with what government claims global prestige at stake, the PMO has decided to target the anti-nuke protesting NGOs, who have stalled the Kudankulam nuclear protests. In fact, US in its first reaction was guarded.
"I'm not competent to comment about it yet as I'm not fully aware what happened. I'm not here to challenge the PM. The US government has no problems with starting a nuke centre here in India," said US Ambassador to India, Peter Burleigh.
There have been negotiations between the Centre and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa. Though Jaya so far has remained silent in this latest PMO-NGO spat, her support for the nuclear plant is crucial to its working.
Underlining this is the feeling within the UPA that many crucial policy decisions, especially those backed by big money and big global powers have been sacrificed to NGO protests and hence the need to take them on.
(For updates you can share with your friends, follow IBNLive on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and Pinterest)
More on IBNLive Right Now
TOP NEWS
PHOTOGALLERY
