Chennai: Actor-politician Kamal Haasan on Saturday succeeded in gathering a few farmers’ representatives and a couple of politicos for a Cauvery discourse piloted by his Makkal Needhi Maiam (MNM) at a star hotel here.
The DMK and other prominent parties skipped the event, while the PMK sent its Lok Sabha MP Dr Anbumani Ramadoss. Former MLA Thanga Tamilselvan of TTV Dhinakaran’s Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (AMMK) was the only other known political face flanking Kamal at the meeting.
Seeking to project himself as a Cauvery campaigner, albeit at the end stage of the decades-old interstate conflict, Kamal had met most of the political leaders—Stalin, Vijayakanth, Thirunavukarasu, TTV, Tamilisai Sounderarajan, K. Balakrishnan, Velmurugan— earlier this week and invited them to attend the Saturday session. He had even said not much could be expected out of the Supreme Court whereas absolute unity among all the stakeholders and political parties in Tamil Nadu would surely deliver the much-delayed justice for the Tamil farmers.
Stalin responded to Kamal’s invitation saying the DMK and allies, including the Congress, would not attend the event as they believed there “is no need for it now”. Responding to this, Kamal now said that Stalin’s opposition could be due to “lack of understanding over what we planned to do today.” Stalin would not have spoken in that fashion if only he had understood correctly, said the MNM chief.
But then, others too have brushed aside his Cauvery roundtable seeing it as his attempt to grab a politically potent platform despite being a latecomer.
Farmers’ leaders P. R. Pandian and P. Ayyakannu were there by Kamal’s side, both having declared support to his initiative ‘because any initiative or campaign by anyone for Cauvery would be welcome’.
However, the first petitioner on Cauvery in Supreme Court, Mannargudi S. Ranganathan reportedly declined Kamal’s invitation. He holds the view there is no need, any more, for holding any all-party meeting because the Centre has now drafted the ‘Scheme’ and the Supreme Court has firmed up solution further by directing the Union Government to notify in gazette the constitution of the 10-member Cauvery Water Management Authority, with all powers to implement the Scheme, before the onset of the southwest monsoon. People voicing fears and dissent over the Centre’s draft scheme must first read and understand it, Ranganathan has said.
