Only the sun’s rays come in through the thatched roof of the pandal erected in front of the St. Lourdu Madha Church at Idinthakarai, which was once the nerve centre of the protest against the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project.
Fishermen, beedi workers and people from all walks of life in and around the hamlet who took part in the protests have gone back to their old lives. The four-and-a-half year old struggle that dominated the political discourse in the State and the country seems to be a non-issue in this Assembly polls.
“Embers of the protest are still there. We have sustained the protest for four-and-a-half years. I wonder if the major political parties would be able to sustain such a struggle even for a few days,” says S.P. Udayakumar, convener of the People’s Movement Against Nuclear Energy and founder of the political party Patchai Tamizhagam.
Mr. Udayakumar, incidentally, contested the last Lok Sabha elections from Kanyakumari on an Aam Aadmi Party ticket. He lost.
The anti-nuclear activist says it is not possible for the local people to continue their protest since both the AIADMK and the DMK are not prepared to hold any constructive discussion with them. Mr. Udayakumar, who is contesting from Radhapuram this time around, says that his political party has embraced the idea of Tamil nationalism as he believes that nuclear power plants in Kudankulam and Kalpakkam are a threat not just to the coastal community, but the entire Tamil populace.
Alleging that the struggle fizzled out because Mr Udayakumar entered electoral politics in 2014, Raja, the secretary of the AIADMK’s Fishermen Wing in Tirunelveli, says: “We kept at distance all political parties during the struggle. The moment Mr. Udayakumar and others who were in the forefront identified themselves with political parties, it impacted our struggle. This does not mean we have reconciled ourselves to the existence of nuclear plants. There are no two opinions that nuclear power plants are against the interest of coastal community.”
However, he says that the issue is not going to be a factor in the Assembly elections.
In Idinthakarai, M. Udayakumar, a local fisherman, agrees with Mr. Raja’s sentiments.
“It may not be an election issue. As far as we are concerned it is a major problem and it has altered our lives in many ways. At least the AIADMK government did not resort to repressive measures to break the struggle.”
Responding to the allegations, Mr S.P. Udayakumar justifies the moves he made, saying it was done with a view to take the protest to the next phase.
“None of the political parties are raising the issue. But we will not stop,” he says.
