In its bid to sustain the tempo of the agitation demanding the constitution of the Cauvery Management Board, the Opposition DMK hurled stones and footwear at Union Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s convoy at Parthibanur junction in Ramanathapuram district (540 km south east of Chennai ) on Wednesday.
Sitharaman was on her way to two remote Dalit villages in the district to inspect the Gram Swraj Abhiyan, Centre’s village self-governance scheme when the DMK activists staging black flag demonstration threw footwear and stones at her convoy of cars. Earlier, on her arrival at Madurai airport, the Defence Minister had told reporters that the CMB could be constituted only with the active participation of all the stakeholders. “This is something the Centre alone could not do on its own. All stakeholders (read Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Puducherry and Kerala ) should sit together and decide on the composition and nature of the Board.
Then only we can set up an institution which is acceptable to all the parties concerned,” said Sitharaman.
But the DMK activists who had assembled along the Ramanathapuram-Parthibanur road under the leadership of Suba. Tha, Diwakaran, the district secretary of the party, waved black flags at the Minister and threw footwear and stones at her convoy. later speaking to reporters, Diwakaran claimed that the DMK activists were staging peaceful demonstration and were provoked by the BJP leaders accompanying the Minister.
Sasiraman, BJP Madurai district president, told this newspaper that the DMK activists were spreading falsehoods. “There was no provocative gesture from the BJP camp. The DMK activists who had assembled along the road waved black flags as the Minister’s convoy passed through the route and started hurling stones and footwear. There was no response from our side,” said Sasiraman.
Prof R Srinivasan, Tamil Nadu secretary of the BJP said the allegation by the DMK activists itself was fishy. “The BJP is not at all against any kind of democratic protests staged by the Opposition parties. This includes waving of black flags too,” said Prof Srinivasan.
Diwakaran was in the news recently for his threat to the BJP national secretary H Raja that he would chop off the latter’s tongue if he uttered anything against the family of the DMK leadership. The DMK has upped the ante over the Cauvery agitation as the party finds itself cornered over the questions posed by the BJP and AIADMK about what the party did for constituting the CMB during 2007 to 2013 when it shared power with the Congress at the Centre.