Chennai: Fifteen years after he dramatically announced he would donate '1 crore for inter-linking of rivers, farmers from Tamil Nadu on Sunday met Tamil superstar Rajinikanth to remind him of the promise and take forward the “link river” campaign to save the farming community.
The delegation of farmers led by National South Indian Rivers Inter-Linking Farmers Association president Ayyakannu also nudged the Tamil film icon to take up the issue of inter-linking of rivers across the country with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The farmers’ feel linking of rivers would help farmers in lower riparian states like Tamil Nadu since water would be available in abundance for irrigation.
Mr Rajinikanth’s meeting with the farmers’ delegation assumes significance since it comes just weeks after the superstar gave the strongest ever hint of his possible entry into politics by asking his fans to “prepare for war”.
“The actor told us that that our plea to link up rivers will be represented to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and pledged Rs 1 crore. Rajini told us that he will take steps to facilitate interlinking rivers. He proposed the idea that peninsular rivers like Mahanadi, Godavari, Krishna, Palar, and Cauvery should be linked first,” Ayyakannu told reporters after the meeting.
The farmers’ leader also said the superstar assured support to farmers on all issues faced by them. In 2002, Rajinikanth had famously offered Rs 1 crore towards interlinking Himalayan and Peninsular rivers after a fast on the Cauvery issue.
