KVIC Chairman VK Saxena to face Medha Patkar in Bengal

NEW DELHI: KVIC Chairman Vinai Kumar Saxena is all set to take on "anti-development" activist Medha Patkar in West Bengal where she is addressing "Kisan Panchayats" to instigate farmers against the Central Government. Seeking to expose the ill-motives and anti-development face of Patkar, Saxena will be holding parallel dialogues with the locals and caution them against her hidden agenda which is guided and supported by foreign forces. Saxena and Patkar are locked in legal battle for over 20 years.

Saxena alleged that it was because of Patkar's agitations in Singur in 2007, that industrial development in West Bengal stopped and caused huge loss of employment and livelihood in the state. And again, by spreading falsehood and instigating farmers, Patkar was attempting to deprive them of the benefits of the farm bills enacted by the Central Government, he said.

Citing the FIR registered against Patkar and her aides by Delhi Police in connection with the 26th January violence in Delhi, Saxena said Patkar has a history of provoking violence in the guise of protests.

"Patkar was the main conspirator of the massive violence in Singur. Similarly, in the Narmada valley, she instigated farmers and tribals to attack police and government officials on a number of occasions. It was Patkar, who gave a false testimony against India in the USA, which led to the withdrawal of the World Bank support to the Sardar Sarovar Dam. Her anti-dam protests in Madhya Pradesh led to the sufferings of lakhs of farmers due to non-availability of Narmada water for over 20 years in Gujarat and Rajasthan. Industrial growth in Madhya Pradesh was severely hampered due to power shortage arising out of delay in commissioning of hydro-power projects on River Narmada," Saxena said.

Saxena, who has previously dragged Patkar to courts in several criminal cases, said all agitations staged by Patkar were guided by her foreign masters with the sole objective of stalling the pace of development in India.

"Be it her anti-dam protests in Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Rajasthan or her agitation in West Bengal against the TATA Nano project in Singur, the motive has been clear – stalling the development projects by misleading the local tribals and villagers. Patkar's foreign connections are already in public domain and her presence in West Bengal is an indication of further unrest and support to the anti-India forces that do not want any development in the state," he said.