The Mullaperiyar Pathukappu Iyakkam, a confederation of the MDMK, Dalit Liberation Front and a few other organisations, has demanded that Idukki district should be merged with Tamil Nadu and further asked the Centre to dismiss the Kerala Government for its wrong stance on the Mullaperiyar Dam issue.
To press these, among other demands, the Iyakkam had called for a shut-down in Vellakoil and Muthur areas on Tuesday which evoked good response from traders, cinema hall owners and tea stalls.
S. Karuppaiah, joint general secretary of Dalit Libertation Front and member of Mullaperiyar Pathukappu Iyakkam, told reporters that since Idukki district, in which Mullaperiyar Dam is situated, had a large Tamil population, it needed to be merged with Tamil Nadu.
“We have asked the Tamil Nadu government to pursue this demand,” he said.
The Iyakkam had also passed a resolution condemning the Kerala government's move to construct a new dam in place of the existing one situated at the confluence of Mullayar and Periyar rivers. Mr. Karuppaiah opined that the Kerala government should obey the Supreme Court verdict on the Mullaperiyar issue so as to ensure continuation of the harmonious relationship existed between the people of both states.
On Monday, journalists affiliated to Tamil Nadu Pathrikayalar Sangham staged demonstration to protest the Kerala Government stance on Mullaperiyar issue.
Both state people are dependent on each other. Many tamilians are working in kerala and at the same time many malayalis settled in TN. Other neighbour states are not following what ever they promised for water sharing. so people are demanding. The people safety also important. Two government come forward and discuss this issue and find a good solution.
None of the comments are willing to accommadate either that lives of residents in Idukki are valuable or accept that livelihood of farmers in Tamilnadu are equally at stake!! The Tamilian suggests adding Idukki to Tnadu and the Malayalees promptly scoffs at the idea. The tragedy is that both the tamilian and the malayalee are both Indians but does either remember that?? In this war of words both states lose clarity of action.
Dear Keralite neighbours,
Don't give a damn to these demands. these parties have no large political support in Tamil Nadu. Pease ignore them.
let us try to solve the mullaiperiyar issue and find an amicable solution.
Mr.Rajiv,Do you mean to say that Providing employment and business opportunities to lakhs of malayalees in Tamilnadu is "selling' and not sharing our resources?.There are more than 50 lakhs malayalees in Tamilnadu and less than 5 lakhs Tamilians in Kerala.The sheer numbers will tell the truth who is dependent on whom and who is sharing more with whom.
@Manoj Ramakrishnan, Please update your 'Economics'Knowledge. The per capita income of Tamilnadu is Rs.62,499 and of Kerala is Rs.59,179 for the F.Y.2009-10.T amilnadu has overtaken Kerala in per capita income since 2008-09 onwards. Tamilnadu is the fourth largest in GSDP and fourth in per capita income among all major indian states.If the buyer can find a better seller,the seller can also find a better buyer.
There is something innately agitative about this Tamil people. Earlier they had issues with Karnataka, they have been causing trouble in SriLanka, now they have issues with Kerala and God knows when they would start the same with Andhra Pradesh ... i mean that is the only bordering state/country left which they are not having any major issues as far as i know ..
Whether it Mullaiperyar dam, Stanley dam or Mettur dam, where is the sense of nationalism? These states-Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka and their politicians are behaving as though they belong to different countries. Shame on them. They were not there before independence! The boundary lines are to facilitate administration to bring as much good to the people, no matter what language they spoke. They guys are behaving as though they are god sent messengers.Just talk and sort out the issue. There is no need for rhetorics, demonstrations and violence. USE YOUR BRAINS. Is that so difficult?
Kerala gets grain, fruits and vegetables from Tamil Nadu BUT Kerala pays for the food. Lakhs of farmers in Tamil Nadu are dependent on this trade. Kerala buys food not only because it grows more cash crops, but also because its per capita income is higher than Tamil Nadu. If not Tamil Nadu, Kerala can always buy its food from Karnataka or Maharashtra. It is Tamil Nadu which is dependent on Kerala for its water and also for its trade.
Very good demand. Let the next move be to annex Sri Lanka, Malaysia and any other region where Tamils reside.You see only the agitation of Tamil people in favour of Tamil Nadu. Your Tamil media will not show you the protests of Tamil people in Idukki district in support of Kerala. Dont ever think that we will not survive without your products. You all are brainwashed by your cunning politicians and media. In a state where 99% of the media is in the hands of the ruling and opposition parties nothing other than this can be expected.While you claim to provide employment to lakhs of our people you forget the tamil people living peacefully in every nook and corner of Kerala. So dont be a fool by supporting foolish demands by your cunning politicians.
kamaraj, if language is the deciding factor, then annexe kanyakumari district to Kerala since the majority of people there are malayalam speaking and it used to a part of old Travancore kingdom. And moreover there is a city named Leicester in UK with the immigrant population more than the white british with indians constituting a majority. COme lets ask Indian Govt to annexe that to India. Big Joke :).... Dividing the state is never a solution, perhaps it will only generate more problems.... Instead we have to find technically and politically viable solutions that can reassure people on either sides. Please dont pour oil into fire.
.. Ms.Jayalalithaa ,in comparison with Mr. Chandy or Mr. Acudanandan , is acting with utter caution and hasn't done anything to aggravate the situation . She is consistently saying that SC judgement should be implemented and she has asked for CRPF to guard the dam to prevent vandalism either by Kerala or TN activists. The Centre which was quick to dispatch CISF to guard KoodanKulam Nuclear Plant is keeping silent in addressing the just demands of Jaya.One of the arguments put forth by Karnataka in Cauvery Dispute is that IT WILL RELEASE WATER TO TN ONLY AFTER SATISFYING ITS NEEDS BUT QUICK TO RELEASE WATER WHEN ITS DAMS ARE IN DANGER. In the same way if tomorrow TN ,which is facing worst Power Crisis ,demands that it will honor its power commitments to Kerala & Karnataka only after TN's power position is comfortable ,what will the centre do??? Has the Centre two yard-sticks for sharing inter-state water & Power ??/ One wonders ...
Today's Kerala is erstwhile Chera Naadu. So, I consider it to be a twin brother of TN. Who cares about the names of the states as long as we think constructive and supportive of each other. Let both the states ignore this rhetoric.
@Venugopal, you are correct. TN is 'sharing' everything. Kerala politicians have never said they will not share water with TN. They only need a new dam. One last thing. It is not sharing if you get money out of it. It is called 'selling'.Considering that, there are a few other states which share their resources with Kerala.They do not ask kerala districts in return.
Kuriakose, Why annex 5 districts? It will be much easier to annex 1 district. If the states were formed based on the local language spoken by the people, then ideally idukki should have been annexed with TN. I think we should not forget the agitation held by locals in idukki in favor of TN.
the best thing to do is merge all the five districts dependent on this water to be merged with Kerala and all the areas dependent on cauvery waters to Karnataka so that the tamil politicians can be cut to their size - otherwiuse soon they will demand mumbai and delhi to be merged with TN because there are more than 50 Tamilians lving in each of these cities. Also they will demand Singapore, Malaysia,Sri Lanka and even Norway because there are lot of Tamilians in all these places.
Idukki district merging request is totally unacceptable, Kerala Govt. and people are not respecting the India's Powerful Supreme Court Order, TN public should not be like them to cross the respectable law, therefore, this kind talk is totally time waste, energy waste, will create unwanted uneasy tension.
It does not matter to which state the accident prone district belong. The ultimate case is of safety and a feeling of security for the people who are immediately downstream. I dont think it is harmful even if the entire state of Kerala is merged with TN, so that the people of Kerala can also enjoy the good fruits like low transportation charges, incentives, freebies etc etc.
TN claims it is exporting all its products to Kerala. Why they are not exporting to Andhra Pradesh or Karnataka or other States. Because most of the food stuff are adulterated beyond imagination. I think Kerala government out of humanitarian consideration is putting up with this nonsense just to help the neighbour . I do not know how long Kerala government is going to tolerate this nonsense.
What next? Will they ask for Sri Lanka to be merged too? TN should remember that the majority of the Tamils in Idukki are immigrants. We can just hope the TN govt is not blind enough by all that's going on, to actually consider this atrocious proposition.
Part [2/2]: Regarding the superiority complex and their suggestion to annex Idukki to TN, it just shows the level of maturity and the attitude to solve the issue. Pakistan was part of India. But I don't think India claims a part/resource of Pakistan, except the part in dispute (PoK/Giglit). Malaysia doesn't claim a part of Singapore as well.
Everybody knows the TRUTH. Meanness and vested interests originated this problem during 70s after the Idukki Reservoir was built. Why? Reasons were obvious. People safely forgot one thing. When Mulla Periyar was built there was no Kerala and Tamilnad. A good Samaritan (is there anybody now?) took initiative and saved a barren land. People of this barren land were not wise enough to realise the forthcoming EVIL TENDENCIES during the creation of states on linguistic basis. How is that a state can throw away the ruling of the Supreme Court?
Shame on these third rate politicians to have made this demand. What have these people done to ensure water security for TN except generating ill-will against Keralites? Why have these people not bothered to voice against illegal land mafia and property dealers closing of existing water sources like lakes? This is what happens when we allow politicians with sub-standard IQ to represent us.
Kerala is sharing not even 20% of its water resources with Tamilnadu and everybody in this country knows what it does with the remaining 80% of it's water resources.Simply wasting it by dumping in Arabian sea.Whereas Tamilnadu shares with Kerala all its resources like electricity,agriculture and allied products like poultry,dairy,meat etc.,all industrial products like automobile, electrical, engineering, textiles,garments,leather,paper,cement,sugar,sand,your favourite alcohol,chemical,pharmaceuticals,electronics products etc.,Tamilnadu also provides employment to lakhs of kerala people in it's manufacturing industries,I.T.& I.T.E.S.sector,cinema & media industry and all other service sectors.Further entrepreuners from Kerala come to Tamilnadu to start business or MSME units,which they cannot do in Kerala.Even thosands of students from kerala come to Tamilnadu for higher& technical education in Engineering,Management,Nursing etc.,Now tell me who shares more resources,T.N. or Kerala?
It seems the Kerala government's misinformation campaign has taken effect. There has never been any qualified evidence of the said dam being in any kind of jeopardy. The structure is indeed said to be quite sound and there is no danger of collapse. If there is an earthquake of over a certain magnitude above the design limits of this dam, then its collapse will not be the main worry. The Idukki dam downstream has several times more capacity to hold all the water that may flow down from the Mullaiperiyar in case of collapse. There may be much chauvinism in suggesting the restructuring of political boundaries, but countering it with an argument that a resource like water belongs to a certain state because it originates there is in bad taste. May we evolve this to an educated, well informed conversation.
All these dirty gimmicks will continue till the “manmade” disaster occurs. Lakhs of poor farmers of 5 districts of Tamilnadu & common man of Kerala living in the danger zone only will be the losers. The greedy and corrupted politicians of both the states and the central cabinet will be very busy at that time to make some more advantage even out of that critical situation. Even GOD cannot save this country.
No matter what Congress does in TN/for TN, regional parties can only bring grief to Congress. And that too for 29 parliament seats! The whole country is in pain due to the 1Lakh crore scam - due to THE party. Do some help/work in UP, Bihar, Rajastan, Maharashtra - you will be hansomely rewarded.
Better to merge 5 districts of TN with Kerala! who is benefiting from Kerala's water
and who is producing vegetable for Kerala with its water.
Great demand indeed! A better proposition is to merge five districts in TN that uses our water to be merged with Kerala. after that there will be no water problem. These guys are nuts. They forget that Kerala is supplying water to TN from Palghat and Trivandrum districts. So will there be demands for further mergers? Come out of the British times, my friends.
See how the river and dam chauvinism is spreading to demands such as a virtual reorganisation of the states. if today it is Idukki, tomorrow it could be Belgaum. Internationally, it has been stated that the future wars between nations will be on water; now we are -through the poor leadership and vision of the states' leaders - a virtual internal strife is spreading. Hope the two chief ministers plus the political leaders such as Thiru Karunanidhi etc. in Tn and others in Kerala are called by the PM and read the riot act to them. Stern governance is needed. Hope that the centre will shows statesmanship and impartiality in solving these issues without allowing them to escalate further.
Thamsha thamasha.
This grape is sour. What about the Malayali population in Coimbatore and Thiruppur or in Chennai? Can they demand being part of Kerala (just like West and East Pakistan of the bygone eara)? Just like that the Tamil population of Idukki are the ones who migrated to that region as workers in tea and cardomom plantation for work and livelihood. This type of nefarious and narrow chauvinistic demands should not be given much publicity by a respected daily like The Hindu. Even if Idukki is annexed to TN, the problem of Mullaiperiyar will only be further complicated since that itself will necessitate a new agreement for sharing the water, for then the issue will become an inter-state one with dam and the leased land being in TN and the river and its catchment areas being in Kerala. This talk of annexing Idukki is just another example of TN leaders fooling their voters to act emotionally without sense.
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