ashu, you are too surprised with Chintan's power? you praised him with garlands of "superpowerful", "surprising power" etc. Had he come up without backing of politics and groups having vested interest, he wouldn't have got success in destroying some projects he had opposed in the past. Unfortunately, that was not the case and thus it appeared that he had been able to ride over the people who have better knowledge than him. FYI, he feels regret for the loss of Arun project, in which he was badly used in politics for some vested interests by certain forces (He has admitted this himself). He was not always successful in destroying projects he had opposed. He is certainly a highlighted activist but is not as "superpowerful" as you consider. Yes, there are some people who argue that Chintan's voice contributed for public awareness and blah blah, which is nothing more than saying " घर जल्यो त के भो कोइला जम्मा भा'छ नि ।". Sponsored remarks like the one you mentioned has no value among peers because everybody knows pratyush and chintan are good friends for long time. Hence they keep highlighting eachother, not a big deal there. You can keep defending him but that won't change him to grow up as an intellectual expert. With his illogical arguments, he can contribute to escalate problems but not to solve, he can raise confrontations but not to compromise and so on. His involvement in recent scandals on drinking water is again taking the same course. Yeah I wouldn't mind to support him if he speaks loud for the benefit of greater public (e.g. rights for the British Gurkha veterans, he has done good job there), if he presents technically sound opinions augmented by proper engineering judgements; if he explains environmental friendly, economically sustainable and logically fit visions in the case of drinking water issues. Otherwise, chintan and his gang would never be appreciated in the intellectuals' circle no mater how hard you keep crying for him.