Our activists not allowed to enter India: Greenpeace

NGO Greenpeace International, which is under the scanner of intelligence agencies, today alleged activists associated with it are being denied entry into the country.
Executive Director of Greenpeace International, Kumi Naidoo, charged activists associated with the green organisation were deported after reaching India on valid visas.
"The one challenge that we have faced is that some of our colleagues work in India and who are coming to engage in some global projects, we had situations where people got a visa by the Embassy in their country, flew all the way to Delhi and got deported," he said.
Claiming that the intention behind such restrictions were to create to a "chilling effect" to "silence" people, he said Greenpeace is also facing litigations by corporate companies to change its focus from environmental issues.

Naidoo said he wanted to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other ministers, apart from the Intelligence Bureau officials to explain their work.
In its first report, which was leaked to the media, IB had alleged that Greenpeace and other NGOs were using anti- nuclear, anti-genetic modified food and anti-coal agitations to negatively impact GDP growth in the country.

Then, in a second report submitted to the Prime Minister's Office and the National Security Adviser, IB had recommended cancellation of the permission given to Greenpeace for collecting funds abroad besides calling for a reassessment of its tax compliance.
Speaking on the occasion, Samit Aich, Executive Director of Greenpeace India, claimed the scale of restrictions have increased in the last six months.

"Even for people, who apply for visas in other countries, there is vigorous questioning over there. There is no guarantee whether they would get a visa or not. And once they land, there is no guarantee that they would enter or be sent back," he stated.
In his address, noted lawyer Prashant Bhushan wondered why the government is blocking Greenpeace India, which is working to save the environment from destruction, from availing international funds while it has allowed FDI in almost in every sector in the country.