Is This A Democratic Country? Asks S.P Udayakumar
By PMANE
18 September, 2012
Countercurrents.org
Meeting the press on Tuesday for the first time after he was whisked away by his supporters when he offered to surrender on September 11, People's Movement Against Nuclear Energy (PMANE) coordinator SP Udayakumar said: “Today, Koodankulam and Vairavikinaru have been looted and are suffering. Women are scared to come out of their houses. Is this a democratic country? If the police had acted responsibly, this wouldn’t have happened. The community members have decided to meet at Idinthakarai. Since the government has been silent and not responded to the people’s demands, the community has decided to lay siege to the Koodankulam nuclear power plant.”
He added that the decision will be taken after the meeting on Wednesday. We have also extended our support. The chief minister should at least speak for the people now.
He also condemned the Tamil Nadu police action in stopping Kerala Legislative assembly opposition leader VS Achuthanandan from entering Idinthakarai.
“The Kerala legislative assembly opposition leader was travelling to Idinthakarai to extend his support to the anti-nuclear protest. But, the Tamil Nadu police stopped him at Kaliyakkavilai border. This action of the police is condemnable,” he said.
He added that in independent India, every Indian citizen has the right to travel to any place. It is unfortunate that a people’s leader has been denied this right. “On behalf of the struggle committee, we request him has to come back, exercise his right and extend his support to the protesting people.
Speaking about the support from other states, he said that the anti-nuclear protest is not just confined to Tamil Nadu now, but has even extended to Kerala. Many Christian leaders from Kerala are coming here. Likewise, many cultural and social organisations more than 350 people have been stopped at Kaliyakkavilai.
Kaliyakkavilai is part of India. Keeping this in view, we request the Tamil Nadu government and police not to stop people from coming here.
After the police excess on September 10, the police are now spreading rumors stating that someone from Idinthakarai has taken away their pistol. Keeping this as an excuse, they are planning to come to Idinthakarai again. “During the police attack, people have lost many of their belongings; their clothes, boats worth lakhs of rupees and two-wheelers items have been damaged. Without talking about all this, the police are again terrorizing our people. We request them to stop this anti-people attitude and we are not enemies. We are citizens of this country. Police also have the responsibility to protect us,” he said.
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