Nicobar project largest theft of Indian property to fulfil fantasies of one businessman: Rahul Gandhi

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Lok Sabha LoP Rahul Gandhi poses for a group photo as he visits the Shree Singh Sabha Gurudwara at Campbell Bay, in Nicobar, on April 29, 2026. Photo: AICC via ANI Photo

The Great Nicobar Island (GNI) project is “one of the biggest scams... the largest theft of Indian property” that is being undertaken to fulfil the “fantasies of one businessman” despite the damage it will do to India’s ecology, said Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday (April 29, 2026).

Mr. Gandhi, Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, who was in the island on Tuesday, said in a video statement, “What is happening here is that all these trees are going to be cut with total disregard for people who live here, with total disregard for the damage this will do to India’s ecology. So that one businessman, Mr. Adani, can fulfil his fantasies.”

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He said that “millions of trees marked for the axe” in the “160 sqkm of rainforest” are “condemned to die” as part of the ₹92,000-crore project to build an international transhipment port, an airport, and a tourism-centric township.

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“This is not development. This is destruction dressed in development’s language,” he said, adding that the project is “one of the biggest scams and gravest crimes against this country’s natural and tribal heritage in our lifetime”. “It must be stopped. And it can be stopped – if Indians choose to see what I have seen,” he said.

Mr. Gandhi spent a day in Great Nicobar, meeting local Nicobarese tribal communities, settlers and ex-servicemen families. His visit came amid protests by the Nicobarese communities against clearances granted to the project. They have alleged that their forest rights had not been settled and have expressed apprehensions about losing access to their ancestral villages, and the forests.

“Every single person who lives here is against this project, none of them