The Newshour Debate: Activism or anti-nationalism? - 1

In a debate moderated by TIMES NOW's Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami, panelists -- Satinath SarangiSocial Activist; Kavita Krishnan, Natl Secy, All India Progressive Women Association; Vinuta Gopal, Head Climate & Energy Campaign, Greenpeace; Dr Sambit Patra, Natl Spokesperson, BJP; and RSN Singh, Former RAW Officer -- discuss the fight between government and Greenpeace .

Greenpeace activist Priya Pillai was offloaded from her flight to London as her proposed "testimony" before a British parliamentary committee would have been "prejudicial" to India's interests, the Centre has told Delhi High Court. The Centre also said her meeting with the committee would have had a "global cascading effect" which would create a "false image" of the country's "massive" efforts to protect tribals' rights that would only serve the "foreign policy interest of a foreign nation." In its affidavit, the ministry has also said that creation of a "false image" of India's efforts to protect tribal rights could also impact investment by foreignbusinesses in India. The ministry has also said that "in-person testimony of local activists" are used by some foreign nations to "add credibility" to their reports which are used as "instruments of control" to further their "core objective" of "foreign policy masked in the cloak of protecting civil rights". Such "tools" are "heavily biased" against "targetedcountries" as unlike in the United Nations, no opportunity isprovided to the "targeted" nation's local Embassy or HighCommission to record their opinion, the ministry said. The ministry also said the Look Out Circular was not issued to limit all of Pillai's freedom but "was focused only on the proposed activity of her deposing before a foreign parliament". Pillai, who was on January 11 offloaded from a flight to London at the IGI airport in New Delhi, has moved the court seeking permission again to visit the British capital to make a presentation before British MPs on alleged human rights violation