In response to an allegation by PM Narendra Modi that “no constructive efforts” were made by the previous government towards the re-introduction of the felines in India, senior Congress leader, Jairam Ramesh, shared a letter from 2009 on Sunday about Project Cheetah to hit back at the PM.
Then, Jairam Ramesh, who was a minister of state (independent charge) for environment and forests during the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance’s government, had written a letter to the Wildlife Trust of India in 2009, giving the green signal to Project Cheetah.
In the letter shared by the Congress leader Ramesh, he had written to Dr M.K. Ranjitsinh of the Wildlife Trust of India, “The analysis should be carried out by the Wildlife Institute of India in collaboration with other organizations like BNHS and WTI.”
He also wrote, “You may also like to take the State Forest Departments as part of this study. I expect that the roadmap will be submitted to the MoE&F by the end of January 2010. “
In his tweet, he said that Modi is a liar and he was not able to share the letter due to his preoccupation with Bharat Jodo Yatra. He tweeted, “Our PM is a pathological liar. I couldn’t lay my hands on this letter yesterday because of my preoccupation with the #BharatJodoYatra.”
In his address after kicking off the cheetah introduction project, PM Modi said, “It is unfortunate that we declared cheetahs extinct in 1952, but for decades no constructive efforts were made to reintroduce them in India. Now, with new strength and vigour, the country has embarked on the project of reviving the population of cheetahs during this ‘Amrit Kaal. “