Tamil Nadu’s Leader of the Opposition and DMK President MK Stalin has demanded a withdrawal of all the sedition cases which were registered against those who had protested against the creation of the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant. His demand comes after The News Minute shed light on the lives of those who were booked for sedition.
Tweeting from his official handle on Thursday evening, MK Stalin took note of the sedition cases imposed on around 9,000 villagers that still exist. “It is shocking that the Government has still not rescinded the politically motivated charges filed against peaceful Kudankulam protesters. The pending cases have affected the lives and livelihoods of thousands of people. I demand that these cases be immediately withdrawn,” he tweeted. His tweet comes after a TNM story in which villagers discussed how their lives have been negatively impacted due to these cases.
It is shocking that the Government has still not rescinded the politically motivated charges filed against peaceful Kudankulam protestors.
— M.K.Stalin (@mkstalin) November 21, 2019
The pending cases have affected lives and livelihoods of thousands of people.
I demand that these cases be immediately withdrawn. https://t.co/5N8CLqzoVZ
The government of Tamil Nadu, under the Jayalalithaa regime, had booked around 9,000 villagers who lived around the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant for sedition. These cases were all filed between 2011 and 2013, when the anti-nuclear power plant protests were at its peak. The protests against the Kudankulam plant stemmed from fear of having to face a disaster similar to that of the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan earlier in 2011. The protesters contended that in case of an emergency, it will not be possible to evacuate all the villagers in a short period of time, and hence a nuclear power plant must not be established in Kudankulam.
With their passports impounded by the authorities, many villagers had to lose their existing jobs due to their participation in the protests. Many well-educated young people from these villages had applied for passports to fly abroad for jobs, but had to permanently forget their dreams of a good life since they could not obtain a ‘No Objection Certificate’ from the police. These villagers also told TNM that they still receive summons for cases and appear in the court in Valliyur at least once every three months.