Vaiko justifies black flag protest plan

Speaking to reports on the sidelines of a marriage here, he said that the MDMK would have election committees in all the 66,500 polling booths in the state for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. “We will work to ensure that the DMK-led front win all the 40 seats in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry,” he added.

Vaiko said that the protest has been planned as Prime Minister Modi had betrayed the interests of the people of the state. The Prime Minister, who had been touring foreign countries, did not have time to visit Cyclone Gaja affected areas. Moreover, Modi-led Union government did not release adequate funds for relief works too.

Meanwhile, Vaiko said that the Prime Minister also betrayed the interests of the state by giving nod to the Detailed Project Report (DPR) for a new dam across Cauvery at Mekedatu in Karntaka. “If the dam was constructed, Cauvery water would not flow into Tamil Nadu and the fertile Delta would turn into a desert,” he warned.

Stating that the Union government had given permission to Vedanta to explore hydrocarbon in Cauvery Delta area, Vaiko said, if these petro-chemical companies come up in the Delta the Centre and the corporate companies would rake in crores of rupees, but at the cost of the destruction of the lives of the crores of people in the area.

“The farmers would be forced to sell their land to the corporate companies. That’s what the government wants,” he added.

In order to express discontent, the MDMK has decided to organise a black flag protest against the Prime Minister on January 27 at Madurai. “I call upon all the people of the state to join the protest as the state is facing catastrophe under the present BJP-led regime,” he said.