Kudankulam activists try new combos to stop nuke plant

In practical terms, the Kudankulam agitation that tried its best to stall the Rs 14,000-crore nuclear power plant in southern Tamil Nadu is over — the giant generators of the plant will start rolling in a month or two. However, it is throwing up a new idea for community-led protests: surrender of voter IDs in numbers that can be electorally significant. [caption id=“attachment_305332” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“Reportedly, thousands of people have sent in their vote IDs to the Struggle Committee, the outfit that coordinates the agitation. Firstpost”]  [/caption] Reportedly, thousands of people from nine villages have sent in their vote IDs to the Struggle Committee, the outfit that coordinates the agitation. The People’s Movement Against Nuclear Energy (PMANE), the anti-Kudankulam spearhead, is yet to give a specific number although some reports pegged the figure at 23,000. “There has been an error in the count of the cards. They are still pouring in from different villages in Tirunelveli district and other places in Tamil Nadu. We are yet to take the final count of the cards and submit them to the authorities,” said Pushparayan, one of the leaders of PMANE. The symbolic surrender of the voter ID cards, if translated into election-boycotts is a significant development. In a single district, 20,000+ votes can be a major decider of poll-results. The photos of the surrendered cards are dramatic and indicate the support that PMANE still has among people in Tirunelveli district. It is not clear if PMANE is collecting them just to blackmail the authorities or if they will indeed surrender them. Either way, that people chose to give up their voter IDs, which is in fact a key entitlement and asset for a larger number of people in rural areas, speaks for their support to the movement. Another attempted innovation by PMANE is a “Quit India” clone called “Respect India”. “Respect India is a call similar to Quit India fervently made by the ordinary citizens of India here at Idinthakarai on May 8, 2012,” said the Struggle Committee and PMANE in a statement. Idinthakarai is the permanent agitation-site for PMANE and the Struggle Committee. The symbolism of “Respect India” is not incidental, but strategic given that PMANE coordinator SP Udayakumar always maintained that the Kudankulam agitation was Gandhian. “Just as the freedom fighters asked the colonial rulers to Quit India, we, the People’s Movement Against Nuclear Energy fighters, request the corrupt and communal ruling class in India to Respect India, respect the Indian citizens’ lives, rights and entitlements, " PMANE said. In the process, the agitators also sought to expand their struggle-base to include other development issues; marginalisation of the poor, and certain classes and communities of people; social inequality, sanitation, healthcare, water etc. Meanwhile, with no worthwhile result at sight, the PMANE continued its agitation at the site. Their latest charge was based on newspaper reports about an “accident” at the plant site on 4th May in which two persons were reportedly injured. They also said they feared clamp-down and pre-dawn arrests yesterday although the state police appeared rather indifferent with a prohibitory order in place. The Kudankulam agitation presents an interesting amalgamation of community movements in different parts of the world, often confusing one with its politics and purpose: sometimes, it strongly looks a typical Church-backed liberation-theology movement against the local nuclear plant; sometimes it resembles an alternative left struggle aimed at socio-political and economic inequality of all the people of the country; and sometimes, it betrays amateur realpolitik. Are they testing out different agitation-combos? But, in reality, it is local movement that annoyingly deprives desperately needed electricity for the rest of the state. In desperation and expediency, people tend to ignore reason. That is perhaps why the agitation failed in garnering public support from the rest of the state, except from the regular activists.