'Orchestrated Tamasha': Congress Claims PM Modi Releasing Cheetahs Is Diversion From 'Bharat Jodo Yatra'

Congress' Jairam Ramesh alleged that the Prime Minister "hardly ever acknowledges continuity in governance" and the Cheetah project was the latest example of that.

PM Modi takes photograph for the cheetahs he released at Kuno National Park.

New Delhi: As Prime Minister Narendra Modi released cheetahs flown in from Namibia at the Kuno National Park (KNP) in Madhya Pradesh on his 72nd birthday today, the Congress party called the event a "tamasha," orchestrated by him as another diversion from pressing national issues and the ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’.

Jairam Ramesh, Congress general secretary and in-charge communications alleged that the Prime Minister "hardly ever acknowledges continuity in governance" and the Cheetah project was the latest example of that.

"PM hardly ever acknowledges continuity in governance. Cheetah project going back to my visit to Capetown on 25.04.2010 is the latest example," Ramesh, who was the Environment and Forest minister during 2009-11. The tamasha orchestrated by PM today is unwarranted and is yet another diversion from pressing national issues and Bharat Jodo Yatra," he tweeted. 

PM hardly ever acknowledges continuity in governance. Cheetah project going back to my visit to Capetown on 25.04.2010 is the latest example. The tamasha orchestrated by PM today is unwarranted and is yet another diversion from pressing national issues and #BharatJodoYatra 1/2 pic.twitter.com/SiZQhQOu0N

— Jairam Ramesh (@Jairam_Ramesh) September 17, 2022

When tigers were first translocated to Panna and Sariska during 2009-11, there were many prophets of doom, Ramesh said, adding that they were proved wrong.

"Similar predictions are being made on the Cheetah project. The professionals involved are first-rate and I wish the project the very best!" he added in the following tweet.

Eight cheetahs were flown in from Namibia to Gwalior on a customised aeroplane on Saturday morning as part of the cheetah reintroduction programme. The animals were later flown to the KNP, located in Sheopur district, in two Indian Air Force (IAF) helicopters.

The 'African Cheetah Introduction Project in India' was conceived in 2009.

Kuno National Park (KNP) in Madhya Pradesh is spread over 748 square kilometres. It is estimated to have a capacity to sustain 21 cheetahs.

Cheetahs got completely wiped out from India due to their use for coursing, sport hunting, overhunting and habitat loss. The government declared the cheetah extinct in the country in 1952. The last spotted feline died in 1948 in the Sal forests of Chhattisgarh's Koriya district.