Chennai’s contemporary political history has seen many protests, fasts, and demonstrations. Some of them, such as the anti-Hindi agitations (even those held across the State), have permanently changed the course of the State’s politics or had an impact on the people it happened to – Jayalalithaa’s fast on the Cauvery in July. 1993 and fasting M. Karunanidhi on the issue of Sri Lanka during the last phase of the civil war in April 2009 – and still remembered and remembered.
On a Sunday in July 1993, Chief Minister Jayalalithaa shocked the entire country by announcing that she was rushing the Cauvery issue, which has been the horn of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka for more than 100 years. The period when Jayalalithaa observed the fast was in the early years of the Cauvery dispute phase, following the June 1991 interim order of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal (CWDT). The court has ordered Karnataka to ensure that the Mettur dam in Tamil Nadu realizes 205 thousand million cubic feet (tmc ft) of water every year (June-May).
During the first half of June and July, Tamil Nadu was supposed to receive 31.54 tmc ft, while it got only 12.22 tmc ft. Amid the situation, Jayalalithaa began, what she called an “indefinite fast.”
A common misconception
Although the general purpose of the fast is to secure the country’s share of water for the year, there is a bigger reason – the constitutional demand for an implementation mechanism for the interim award. A section of city dwellers who are not fully aware of her protest, coupled with the fact that Chennai is in the midst of an acute water shortage, feel that Jayalalithaa’s fast is aimed at solving Chennai’s water woes.
Jayalalithaa’s fast site is located between the mausoleum of Annadurai and her political mentor and AIADMK founder, MG Ramachandran, in the Marina. Dressed in a green saree and seated on a sofa set on a high platform, the Chief Minister, on the first day (July 18), recited. 100 Great Modern Life. He started receiving high flow of visitors including Governor M. Channa Reddy. Effigies of Karnataka Chief Minister M. Veerappa Moily and Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao were burnt in various parts of the state, including near Ezhilagam, Chepauk, and Virugambakkam complexes. Hearing that 50 volunteers tried to set themselves on fire for fasting, Jayalalithaa appealed to party cadres to exercise restraint.
On the fourth day (July 21), Union Water Resources Minister VC Shukla, Prime Minister Friday, who traveled to Bengaluru and held discussions with the Karnataka Chief Minister the night before, met Jayalalithaa in two meetings. Jayalalithaa’s immediate deputy in the Cabinet, VR Nedunchezhian, who is her Finance Minister, announced the Centre’s willingness to form two committees – one for implementation of awards and the other to monitor data with reference to implementation. Wild cheers and bursting crackers greeted the announcement, as Jayalalithaa surrendered. Apart from the drama, there is little progress, though. Tamil Nadu has to wait another five years for the implementation mechanism. By then, the AIADMK’s traditional enemy, the DMK, had come to power.
Protests in 2009
Sixteen years later, the venue at the Marina is once again the place where Chief Minister Karunanidhi observed his fast, which was also described as uncertain at first. This time, the month is April, and the 27th is Monday.
Karunanidhi during a protest against the civil war in Sri Lanka in April 2009. | Photo Credit: The Hindu Archives
The civil war in Sri Lanka, also called the Eelam War, is in its final stages, as the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), led by V. Prabhakaran, has suffered military defeats, including the fall of Kilinochchi. in January of that year, which is the headquarters of the LTTE-roto area, and the Gajah Pass is strategic in the north. The rebel group is confined to a small area near Mullaitivu, which it captured from the Sri Lankan authorities 13 years earlier. Sri Lankan authorities have accused the LTTE of using civilians as “human shields.”
On April 24, Indian Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon and National Security Advisor MK Narayanan met Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa in Colombo. Two days later, the LTTE announced a ceasefire but Colombo rejected it, calling it a joke. There is no word from New Delhi on what they are doing.
Also, in India, the Lok Sabha elections are underway and two phases of polling are over, with three more phases to go. Tamil Nadu was covered in the last and fifth phase (May 13). On April 25, AIADMK general secretary Jayalalithaa, Karunanidhi’s main rival, said that the next government at the Center would be formed with the help of the AIADMK and that if the government heeded the party’s words, steps would be taken. establishing a separate Tamil Eelam.
Surprise announcement
Karunanidhi, 85, had undergone surgery for back problems just a few months earlier. At 5.55 am on April 27, he told the driver to take him to the party headquarters, Anna Arivalayam. When the convoy reached Cathedral Road, he asked them to go to the Annadurai memorial. Around 6:05 am, he started his fast and suddenly told his followers and others: “On behalf of the people of Tamil Nadu, I am doing this fast to protect the Tamil people of Sri Lanka.”
Soon, some of his well-wishers, religious leaders, officials, political leaders, and Tamil film personalities called him and asked him to fast. The then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Home Minister P. Chidambaram were among those who asked him to break his fast. As the news of this spread quickly, some DMK officials and their allies suspended their poll campaign and rushed to the place of fast. The ruling DMK sent a telegram to several officials, including Mr. Rajapaksa, asking for a “permanent ceasefire.”
Around noon, Colombo announced the end of combat operations with heavy caliber weapons, fighter jets, and air weapons, which may have resulted in civilian casualties. At around 12.20 pm, Mr. Chidambaram informed Karunanidhi about Colombo’s decision to end combat operations. Satisfied with the conversation with the Union Minister, the DMK chief ended his fast.