Himalayan Activists Claim Political Theatre Overshadows Real Environmental Struggles
In a strong rebuttal to a recent religious assembly, a coalition of local environmental groups has asserted that the real credit for stopping the controversial Ski Village project belongs to a decade-long legal and public battle fought by citizens, not to political or religious spectacles.
The Himalaya Niti Abhiyan and Janjagran Manch, groups at the forefront of the fight to protect the ecologically sensitive region, have accused the organizers of the “Dev Sansad Jagati” of attempting to co-opt their hard-won victory for political gain.
“The Ski Village was scrapped because the people fought it in public hearings and in the courts for over a decade. It was the result of a people’s movement, not a Jagati,” said Guman Singh, Coordinator of Himalaya Niti Abhiyan. He didn’t mince words, alleging that the same figures now opposing a new ropeway project have a history of shifting allegiances.
“The organizers of this Jagati were standing with the government until the very last hearing for Ski Village. They were not the opposition,” Singh claimed. “We won in the public hearing, we won in the High Court—that is what killed the project.”
A Familiar Pattern, Activists Allege
The activists drew parallels to the current controversy surrounding the proposed Vijli Mahadev Ropeway. They alleged that the very individuals now protesting the project were previously involved in promoting it.
“These are the same people who are behind bringing the Vijli Mahadev Ropeway, and now they are staging a drama of opposition for politics,” Singh stated. “The day they get a party ticket, they will start singing the praises of the ropeway once again.”
The groups revealed that the central government has formed a committee, led by BJP President Jagat Prakash Nadda, to engage with the opposition. “Once this committee meets with these individuals, the true motives of these dramatists will be clear to everyone,” Singh added.
A Long, Hard-Fought Legal Battle
Echoing these sentiments, the leaders of Janjagran Manch provided a detailed account of their grueling legal struggle. Lal Chand Katoch, the forum’s former President, and Dr. Pushpal Chand Thakur, its former General Secretary, recounted filing a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) back in 2007.
“For eleven years, we fought this battle in the halls of the High Court,” said Katoch. “It was in 2018 that a double bench finally ruled in our favor and scrapped the Ski Village. The entire fight was led by our organization, not by the champions of the Jagati, who were, in fact, with the government and the project back then.”
Dr. Thakur expressed frustration over what he called the repeated politicization of their grassroots movement. “There have always been attempts to take political advantage of our genuine struggle. This is something we will not tolerate.”
The groups unanimously called for genuine public awareness and a grassroots movement to protect the fragile Himalayan ecology, arguing against large-scale religious gatherings and construction projects that, in their view, cause irreversible damage. They maintain that the path to protection lies in sustained public action, not in political theatre.
