By TCN News,
Chennai: Goaded by the leaders of the various communities that are involved in the anti-Koodankulam struggle, some of the People’s Movement Against Nuclear Energy (PMANE) activists have decided to take the political plunge. Activists of PMANE are joining Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).
“We take up the political route to continue the anti-nuclear struggle and resist all the anti-people and anti-nature projects all over Tamil Nadu and achieve our goal of making Tamil Nadu safe and sustainable for the future generations,” a press statement of PMANE said.
Justifying their merger with AAP, they said, ‘Since both the Congress Party and the Bharatiya Janata Party are very much in favour of the Koodankulam nuclear power project and other such disastrous projects all over the state of Tamil Nadu, the struggling community leaders feel that we have to look for an alternative in the national political scene.”
For them AAP appears to be an “obvious alternative” and “natural ally” that is attracting the attention and the political imagination of the youth in India. Most importantly, the AAP refuses to have any trucks with the pro-nuclear Congress Party and the BJP etc. All this makes the AAP our natural ally, they said.
The AAP leaders Mr. Arvind Kejriwal, Senior Advocate Prashant Bhushan, Admiral Ramdas, and Mrs. Lalita Ramdas have been to Idinthakarai, the epicenter of struggle, a few times and extended crucial support and solidarity to our almost three-year-long struggle.
The AAP has taken a clear Aam Aadmi-friendly stand “that the local community who would be directly affected by an accident should have a decisive say in the placing of … nuclear power plants in their backyard.” The AAP has also promised to “examine the larger question of whether this country needs to promote nuclear energy at all or not at an appropriate time after wider public consultations.”
Although the name of the outfit is “Aam Aadmi Party,” the AAP high command upholds the principles of autonomy and decentralization and respects the freedom “to refer to the party in Tamil words familiar to the common man.” So we would go by the Tamil name of “Eliya Makkal Katchi (AAP)” and represent the “ordinary people” of Tamil Nadu such as the fisher folks, farmers, merchants, workers, Dalits, minorities and others. The “Eliya Makkal Katchi (AAP)” would uphold the interests of the weaker sections of the society such as women and children and the elderly.
They noted that the AAP high command takes the sufferings “of the Tamil people in Sri Lanka at the hands of the Sri Lankan government and military” and the “unprovoked attacks of Tamil Fishermen by the Sri Lankan military” quite seriously and feels that “all these should have been taken up very seriously by the Indian government with the Sri Lankan government and with the International community.”
Announcing their decision to join AAP, PMANE said, “With almost all of our political sentiments and sensitivities, and perceptions and values accepted and respected by the AAP, we, the “ordinary citizens” of Idinthakarai have decided to embark upon a new and bold political journey with new leaders, new dreams, new hopes and new aspirations. We are joining the party as members using the SMS method.”