DMK Announces Massive Thanjavur Protest Over Farmers' Issues, Mekedatu Dam Project
Stalin further warned the government of larger protests if it continued to ignore the concerns of farmers
Chennai: Accusing Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay of complacency in fighting for the rights of Tamil Nadu in its dispute with Karnataka on the sharing of Cauvery water and in preventing the building of a dam at Mekedatu, the DMK called for a massive protest on the delta soil, at Thanjavur, on Monday, August 3, besides demanding the convening of an all-party meeting to discuss the sensitive issue.
DMK president and former Chief Minister M K Stalin, in a statement on Thursday, alleged that Vijay was keeping silent when his Karnataka counterpart was going all out to ensure the building of the dam across the Cauvery at Mekedatu and was also apathetic to the needs of farmers, who were the backbone of the country.
The protest would be led by the leader of the opposition in the State Assembly, Udhayanidhi Stalin, who, in a social media post, described the TVK rule as anti-farmers and pointed to the government’s failure to open the Mettur reservoir for irrigation in the last one and a half months since the stipulated date of June 12.
Stalin said Karnataka Chief Minister D K Shivakumar had met Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on June 11 to seek financial assistance for the dam, called on Union Minister of Water Resources on June 12 to get approval and had held a meeting of all-party MPs from Karnataka in Delhi on July 27 when Vijay had be watching the farmers of his State suffering on the streets.
Shivakumar had quoted the Union Water Resources Department's reply to Parliament that the Mekedatu Dam construction did not require the permission of neighboring riparian states and Karnataka Minister Ramalinga Reddy had held a review meeting on Mekedatu with Karnataka government's Delhi representative, Advocate General and senior officials, he said.
While Vijay had been keeping silent when his Karnataka counterpart had been continuously telling the media that he would build the dam since the approval of Tamil Nadu was not required, Stalin said the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister felt that his duty was over with his writing a letter to the Prime Minister.
He also charged Vijay with cheating the farmers by reneging on his election promise of writing off crop loans. After winning the election he had earned the wrath of farmers by saying that cooperative bank loans of those owning less than 5 acres of land would alone be waived and others would get only 50 percent discount, Stalin said.
He also referred to rumours of Vijay visiting Bengaluru to discuss some inter-State issues on August 3 when Shivakumar had said that even if the Cauvery Regulatory Committee ordered to give Tamil Nadu its due share of water, it will not be implemented and pointed to the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister’s silence on it.
Stalin said there were reports that Vijay was silent on the issue because did not want his latest film to face problems in Karnataka but had not evinced any response from the Chief Minister.
