Political / Rahul calls for making environmental decay ‘political issue’

Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday said environmental issues won’t get the importance they deserve unless they were made ‘political issues’ and charged the government with not doing enough to stop the degradation.

“Till we make environmental issues, political issues, they won’t get the importance they deserve. This #WorldEnvironmentDay, let’s get together and commit to doing just that,” wrote Mr. Gandhi on his Facebook page on the occasion of the World Environment Day.

“Millions of India’s are suffering and even dying as a direct consequence of environmental degradation and the unwillingness of our government to address these issues on a war- footing.”

Sounding a cautionary note, he said the pace of environmental destruction had reached a stage from where there might not be any turning back.

“There is now enough scientific evidence to show that much of the degradation we have caused, particularly in the last 100 years or so, is irreversible. Global warming isn’t a myth. It’s a reality. India’s polluted cities, where citizens struggle to breathe, aren’t a myth, they too are a reality. As are our polluted rivers and water bodies and depleting groundwater and disappearing forest cover,” he said.

“Mankind’s insatiable lust for power and wealth has speeded up the pace of environmental destruction, like never before in the history of our planet. We’re at a tipping point, from which if we don’t reverse the environmental degradation we are causing, there may be no turning back,” said the Congress chief.