BJP leader and Union Minister of State for Finance and Shipping Pon Radhakrishnan on Friday called those opposing various governmental projects terrorists.
Interacting with journalists at the Chennai Port Trust’s guest house, Mr. Radhakrishnan rejected the suggestion of a milder term to describe protesters. “When I call them terrorists, how can you call them anti-socials and therefore give them importance? These people are worse than anti-socials. They are against the people and growth,” he told a journalist.
“The State government has to take action. They have begun taking action; I am happy,” he said in an apparent response to the State arresting activists opposing the Salem-Chennai green corridor project. He added that the Central government would step in if the State government hesitates in taking such action.
Mr. Radhakrishnan then alleged that those against the Salem-Chennai green corridor were specifically against the western districts of the State.
“Those who do not want this project do not want the western districts of the State to develop. If you look at the industrialisation in Tamil Nadu, 60% of the State’s factories are in the western districts,” he said.
