The protests against the Sterlite factory in Thoothukudi have caught the attention of the UK’s Labour Party, which has now suggested that Sterlite’s parent organisation Vedanta Resources should be removed from the London Stock Exchange.
The party’s Shadow Chancellor, John McDonnell in a statement on the Labour Party’s webpage has stated: "The news from Tamil Nadu that 13 people protesting against Vedanta have been killed is shocking and demands action. This is a major multinational company that for years has operated illegal mining concerns, trashing the environment and forcibly evicting local people. Campaigners and international NGOs like Amnesty International have accused Vedanta of a string of human rights and environmental abuses in India, Zambia and across the globe."
He further went on to say that in order to re-establish faith in the stock exchange, it was only fair to remove Vedanta, '[It] must be immediately delisted from the London Stock Exchange to remove its cloak of respectability, restore confidence in the governance of the Stock Exchange, and prevent further reputational damage to London’s financial markets from this rogue corporation."
The horrific killings of civilian protesters has been met with widespread outrage.
According to a report in The Hindu, the well-known activist group 'Foil Vedanta' which has been fighting against Sterlite is set to stage a protest outside the Indian Embassy in the UK on Saturday afternoon.
Another activist group, ‘Tamil People in U.K.’ is also reportedly outraged by the recent occurrences in Thoothukudi. “It is disgusting to learn that a British company has put its profits above human cries for safe air to breath and water to drink,” Karthik Kamalakannan from the organisation told The Hindu.