New Delhi, June 15 (IANS): Anti-nuclear activist S.P. Udayakumar on Monday wrote to External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj requesting her help in the recovery of his impounded passport "on humanitarian grounds" in a reference to her helping former IPL chief Lalit Modi travel to Portugal.
Udayakumar, who is the convenor of the People's Movement Against Nuclear Energy protesting against the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant project in Tamil Nadu, had his passport impounded by the previous United Progressive Alliance government.
In his letter to Sushma Swaraj, which was shared on his Facebook and Twitter accounts, he says that "the Congress government headed by Dr. Manmohan Singh impounded my passport under the false pretext of facing several protest-related cases" because of his role in the anti-Kudankulam protests.
"As a matter of fact, I had been working as a visiting professor in a few international educational institutions and that was the sole source of income for me and my family that includes my aged parents, wife and two children. As a result of the seizure of my passport, I am unable to travel abroad, engage in my teaching activities and generate the much-needed income for my family," he wrote.
"Since I hear now that you have been helping individuals with passport and visa issues on humanitarian grounds, may I request you to help me recover my impounded passport (J3347811 dated 15.09.2010) as soon as possible please."
"Please find below a Tamil memorandum submitted to the Collector of Tirunelveli district in Tamil Nadu on April 29, 2015 about the denial of passports to hundreds of our youth and men under concocted charges. Please help these honest and hard-working comrades get their passports on the basis of humanitarian considerations. Hope you will help us all immediately! Thank you!," he wrote.
"Looking forward to your timely help, I send you my kind regards and all peaceful wishes," he said.
Sushma Swaraj is in the midst of a massive controversy for helping Lalit Modi, who is charged with financial impropriety and is living in London since 2010, procure travel documents to travel to Portugal last year for treatment of his cancer-stricken wife.
She has said she helped Modi on "humanitarian grounds".