The continuing sit-in protest by the Cauvery Rights Retrieval Committee entered its 12th day on Saturday with members and farmers’ wing of the Tamil Maanila Congress resorting to a novel stir breaking earthen pots and holding up lighted candles as a mark of protest against the Central Government's “anti-Tamil Nadu farmers’ stance.”
The Committee is protesting against the Centre's move to establish a single tribunal for all inter-state river water disputes, seeking to constitute immediately the Cauvery Management Board, Cauvery Water Regulating Committee, demanding to stop all hydrocarbon exploration activities in the fertile regions of Cauvery delta among other issues. Committee coordinator P. Maniyarasan, along with supporters, launched the struggle on March 28 near the Collector's Office here.
On Saturday, TMC Farmers’ Wing State president Puliyur Nagarajan, Thanjavur town president Gunasekaran, general secretary Karthikeyan, secretary Karthi came in a procession from near the Tamil University main entrance holding earthen pots raising slogans denouncing the anti-farmer attitude of the Central and State governments.
When they reached the venue of the stir, they dropped the pots to the ground breaking them as a mark of protest and lit candles to remember the farmers who died of shock or ended their life due to mounting agricultural losses in the delta region.
Tamil Desiya Munnani general secretary Ayanapuram Murugesan, Viduthalai Tamil Puligal Katchi founder president Kudanthai Arasan were also present.
Mr. Puliyur Nagarajan demanded that the Prime Minister meet the Tamil Nadu farmers protesting at the Jantar Mantar area in Delhi and listen to their grievances even as he called upon the Chief Minister, Edappadi K. Palaniswami, to depute somebody to meet the farmers staging the sit-in protest in Thanjavur.
‘Neglect condemnable’
The neglect of the farming community by the governments was condemnable, he stated.
Mr. Maniyarasan observed that the Chief Minister's intransigence was deplorable while it was intriguing why Prime Minister Narendra Modi was meting out a sequence of injustice to Tamil Nadu's interests. If he could not meet with the protesting farmers, he could have very well depute any of his Cabinet colleagues to listen to the protesting farmers. “Come what may, our struggle would continue till we were heard and our genuine grievances redressed,” he emphasised.
