Ramesh wants to make environment a ‘political issue’

NEW DELHI - Contending that environment has been sidelined so far, Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh Friday said that he wants to make it a political issue.

“The general mindset we have is that environment is a side issue… that is not that way to deal with it. I think we need to mainstream many of these issues in our political agenda. I want to make environment a political issue,” Ramesh said while speaking at the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit here.

Ramesh said he is not an activist but if laws of the land have to be implemented in seriousness, then some sacrifices will have to be made.

“There will be occasion in which choices have to be made and we must make those choices upfront with courage and learn to live with the consequences,” he added.

The minister, who has been at loggerheads with several ministers and industries for withholding several infrastructure projects, said the real debate was not conservation and growth but how a person or industry will follow the law of the land in environmental issues willingly.