A day after the director general of police (Tamil Nadu) submitted a status report to the Madras High Court on the factors which led to last week’s police firing at Thoothukudi that claimed 13 lives, a respected autonomous agency in the State has come out with its findings that the anti-Sterlite agitation and riots were part of a major anti-national movement which has taken shape in Tamil Nadu and this is being aided and funded by various international agencies.
The findings of Vedic Science Research Centre, a think tank of security experts, former police officers, scientists and bureaucrats have prepared a report to be submitted to the Union Government incorporating the first-hand details they collected from different sources. What is shocking about the findings is that the Anti Sterlite Movement is the continuation of many such agitations and arsons against development initiatives in Southern Tamil Nadu. The VSRC investigators have concluded that police resorted to firing only as a last measure and that too to save more than 200 innocent lives who had to bear the brunt of the rioters.
“The agitation against Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project, the Marina Beach sit-in demanding the removal of the Supreme Court ban on Jallikkattu, the demonstrations against the Government of India to set up hydrocarbon plants in Cauvery Delta Region, the ONGC mission to extract shale gas from the Cauvery districts, the agitation demanding the shutting down of the Indian Nutrino Observatory at Theni, and the agitation against the setting up of the world class Inter Continental Container Shipment Terminal in Kanyakumari district are all inter connected and inter linked.
The ultimate idea is to block and prevent all kind of development works in this part of the country and to condition the region for a secessionist movement, which has already taken shape in the area,” said Ramakrishnan Gauthaman, director, VSRC
The report quotes even former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh who told a international publication that the agitators at Kudankulam were being funded by agencies from foreign countries. “Dr Manmohan Singh ad said that the NGOs in Thirunelveli and Thoothukudi Districts were receiving funds from Organisations based in the United States of America and Scandinavian countries. The money was channelled mainly through the church based NGOs namely Tuticorin Diocese Association and Tuticorin Multipurpose Social Service Society,” the report quotes.
The report submitted the VSRC to the Home Ministry, which has been accessed by The Pioneer is a work done painstakingly. Each point mentioned in the report has been substantiated by documentary evidence, pictures, audio/video clippings and input provided by the residents of the local community.
This controversial plant has been a money spinner for many politicians, bureaucrats, civil Society groups and Church priests for long. The current bout of strike is to oppose the expansion of this plant.