We will hold flash protests and road rokos till the Cauvery Management Board is formed. Cops won’t be able to put us behind bars for long, says M K Stalin
After announcing a statewide bandh on April 5, condemning the Centre for not setting up of the Cauvery Management Board, DMK-led Opposition parties in Tamil Nadu staged a flash protest at Valluvar Kottam here on Sunday afternoon, taking the police by surprise.
DMK working president MK Stalin, Congress state unit president Super. Thirunavukkarasar, Dravidar Kazhagam president K Veeramani, CPM state secretary K Balakrishnan, CPI state secretary R Mutharasan, Viduthala Chiruthaigal Katchi president Thol Thirunavukkarasar and others were briefly detained by the police and let out later.
As the police arrested the leaders, the cadres staged a road roko on the busy Valluvar Kottam junction, raising slogans. The protest triggered a chain reaction, with the party cadres staging road roko in several parts of the state. DMK Rajya Sabha MP Kanimozhi along with cadres were arrested by the police in Tirunelveli for staging road roko.
In an all-party meeting held at DMK headquarters DMK leader Stalin said flash protests will continue until the formation of the CMB. "Police might arrest us, but they would not put us behind bars for long as prisons won't be able to accommodate that many protestors. They will release us in the evening, and we will continue to hold such protests," he told cadres who gathered in large number in short notice. He also urged the cadres not to move from the protest venue until the police remove them.
Calling upon political parties, farmers associations, traders, students and youth to support the bandh, Stalin said the meeting resolved to hold Cauvery Rights Retrieval March from the Cauvery Delta region to the Raj Bhavan in the next phase. He added that black flags will be shown to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his cabinet ministers whenever they visit the state. Meanwhile, Makkal Needhi Maiam president Kamal Haasan said his party was not invited for the DMK's meeting of friendly parties. He, however, said his party would announce its plan for the Cauvery issue on the public rally to be held in Tiruchirapalli on April 4.
AIADMK government, which has been accused by the Opposition parties of going soft on the BJP-led Central government, has also announced a day-long fast on April 3 in all the district headquarters seeking the formation of the board.
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