New Delhi, April 29 (IANS) Senior Congress leader and Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, visited the Shree Singh Sabha Gurdwara in Campbell Bay in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands on Wednesday.

Gandhi offered prayers at the shrine and spent time interacting with members of the local Sikh community to understand their concerns.

The visit is reportedly part of his broader engagement with the residents of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

Gandhi shared photographs and videos of his visit across various locations in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands on social media.

Interestingly, the visit coincided with the final phase of polling in West Bengal. While Prime Minister Narendra Modi offered prayers at the Kashi Vishwanath Temple in Varanasi on Wednesday morning, the Congress leader opted to travel to the remote island territory.

Rahul Gandhi also took aim at the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Centre, alleging that it plans to destroy the island’s rich forest assets by felling thousands of trees, and claimed it could be one of the biggest scams India has ever seen.

In a two-minute video on X, Gandhi launched a sharp attack on the Centre’s Great Nicobar Island development project after visiting the region, describing it as “one of the biggest scams and gravest crimes against this country’s natural and tribal heritage in our lifetime”.

In the video on X, he said, “I travelled through Great Nicobar today. These are the most extraordinary forests I have ever seen in my life. Trees older than memory. Forests that took generations to grow. The people on this island are equally beautiful – both the adivasi communities and the settlers – but they are being robbed of what is rightfully theirs.”

He further criticised the project, stating, “The government calls what it is doing here a ‘Project’. What I have seen is not a project. It is millions of trees marked for the axe. It is 160 square kilometres of rainforest condemned to die. It is communities that have been ignored while their homes have been snatched away. This is not development. This is destruction dressed in development’s language.”

Calling for immediate action, he added, “What is being done in Great Nicobar 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.”

In another post on X in Hindi earlier, Rahul Gandhi claimed that petrol and diesel prices would go up after April 29, once the second and final phase of the West Bengal Assembly elections concludes on Wednesday.

–IANS

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