Environmentalism and Contestation Over Land: Actor-Networks in the Kancha Gachibowli Auction Dispute

This paper examines the controversy surrounding the proposed auction of 400 acres of land in Kancha Gachibowli, Hyderabad, through the lens of Bruno Latour?s Actor-Network Theory (ANT). The dispute, involving student activists from the University of Hyderabad, civil society groups, the Telangana state government, and multiple non-human actors such as land, wildlife, laws, and digital media, reveals environmentalism as a dynamic political network rather than a fixed moral stance. By analyzing media narratives, legal interventions, and environmental claims, the study highlights the contestation over the land's identity - as an ecological habitat, academic commons, and economic asset. The paper further explores the role of AI-generated misinformation, celebrity advocacy, and judicial mediation in shaping public discourse and policy outcomes. Through this perspective, the paper elucidates how environmental debates in urban development contexts reflect broader struggles over legitimacy, power, and governance, with nature constructed and performed by heterogeneous networks of actors.