South Central 41: Questions over Ambani’s Vantara & the farce of Rahul Mamkootathil as MLA

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South Central

South Central 41: Questions over Ambani’s Vantara & the farce of Rahul Mamkootathil as MLA

The podcast that delves into the stories shaping southern India.

By:Dhanya Rajendran & Pooja Prasanna

Date:

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In this week’s South Central, hosts Dhanya Rajendran and Pooja Prasanna first discuss Anant Ambani’s Vantara project and how, under the guise of animal rescue, it may be hiding something far more sinister. They are joined by investigative journalist M Rajshekhar.

The Supreme Court recently ordered an investigation into the operations of Reliance’s Vantara, a wildlife rescue and rehabilitation centre, a pet project of Anant Ambani.

“I don’t know what to make of the SC’s formation of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) to investigate Vantara. Usually, SITs are not set up so easily. I am also unclear how the members of the Team were chosen. The questions about how animals brought to Vantara were sourced are important. We need to check where suppliers got these animals, whether laws were complied with…etc., We need to examine the claims about India being a hotspot for wildlife trafficking, also, while we ask why an SIT was formed to probe Vantara,” Rajshekhar says.

Dhanya adds that the SIT is headed by former Judge B Chelameswar, who would take this seriously. “Vantara has the Radhe Krishna elephant welfare trust and the green zoological rescue and rehab centre as its two major pillars. Over the years, we have seen a steady flow of animals to the centre–many of them do not need rescue or rehab. So the question is about why animals are being brought,” she says.

Rajshekhar says that the questions around why Vantara is bringing animals from faraway countries to Jamnagar for rescue are questionable. “We should look at supply chains, and why animals need to be brought to Gujarat instead of being rehabilitated nearer to their habitats. The final count of animals, which keeps fluctuating, must also be looked into,” he adds.

Pooja says that the question is also about the Wildlife Protection Act, and how it was tweaked to allow so many animals to be brought into Vantara.

“The SIT has to go beyond the epidermis and look at whether the legality of Vantara is manufactured. The amendments to the laws on wildlife trading and compliance around the time Vantara was coming up are perplexing,” Rajshekhar adds.

In the second part of the discussion, the panel weighs in on the allegations of sexual misconduct against Palakkad MLA Rahul Mamkootathil. The hosts are joined by journalists KK Shahina and Sukanya Shaji.

Dhanya starts off the discussion by asking if the Congress has done enough in Rahul’s case, and if it is appropriate for an MLA accused of sexual misconduct by multiple women to continue in office.

“The Congress in Kerala is going through a crisis like never before. But what we see is also how women are trying to find the language to speak about sexual exploitation. It is challenging for women to speak up, and the allegations are very serious. So there must be accountability from the party,” Shahina says.

She adds that every party must reflect on why alleged predators were retained in the Assembly despite so many women speaking against them.

Pooja says that the dismissal of allegations as consensual is familiar. “This stems from a lack of understanding about sexual harassment. Also, political parties must be safe spaces for women to survive,” she says.

Sukanya adds that survivors are blamed excessively for not making complaints, when the system does close to nothing to ensure that they have a safe space to open up. “Why should survivors suffer the accountability deficit of parties and systems? A look at social media comment boxes makes it thoroughly clear that nobody has the moral high ground to ask women to complain. That is the amount of cyber harassment and verbal abuse survivors go through, while men and party supporters band together for one another,” she says.

Tune in to the episode here

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Audio Timecodes

00:00:00- Introductions

00:01:27 - Support TNM

00:02:52 - Headlines

00:08:05 - Dharmasthala Case

00:13:25 - Vantara

00:41:53- Rahul Mamkootathil allegations

01:11:25 - Recommendations

References