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Tamil Nadu parties shift focus to fishermen’s issues, ahead of 2024 Lok Sabha polls
Tamil Nadu chief minister blamed a “weak” BJP-led Union government for the attack on fishermen and accused them of not finding a lasting solution to the issue of fishing rights in the Palk Bay region
Ahead of the 2024 Lok sabha elections, political parties in Tamil Nadu can be seen shifting their focus towards the issues of the fishermen’s community. Tamil Nadu has the second longest coastline (1,076 km) after Gujarat (1,215 km) in the country. From Kanyakumari to Thiruvallur, 13 out of the 38 districts in the state have a shoreline, making the fishing community acting as a major vote bank for the upcoming parliamentary elections.
At a conference organised by the Tamil Nadu Fishermen Association in Ramanathapuram district on August 18, chief minister M K Stalin had announced increasing financial assistance during the annual fishing ban from ₹5,000 to ₹8,000, along with other benefits.
A number of letters have been written to external affairs minister S Jaishankar, by the chief minister, opposition parties of All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), seeking release of Indian fishermen arrested by the Sri Lankan Navy. There is also a long standing demand to retrieve Katchatheevu Island from Lanka. One of the leaders of the fishermen community from Manapam in Ramanathapuram, P Jesuraja said that in the past few years though arrested fishermen have been sent back, the Lankan authorities have not returned their fishing boats after confiscating them.
Stalin blamed a “weak” BJP-led Union government for the attack on fishermen and accused them of not finding a lasting solution to the issue of fishing rights in the Palk Bay region.“We want the Union government to use diplomatic channels to provide a mutually agreeable solution, which is long lasting,” said a senior DMK leader. “These incidents result in severe socio-economic repercussions on the affected families.”
Stalin’s attack came a few days after the Prime Minister Narendra Modi had accused former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and Stalin’s late father, M Karunanidhi for ceding Katchatheevu in 1974 to Sri Lanka. “Katchatheevu is an island between Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka. Somebody gave it to another country. It happened under the leadership of Indira Gandhi,” Modi had said, on August 10, during his speech on no-confidence debate in the Parliament.
In July this year, Stalin had written to Modi ahead of Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremsinghe’s Delhi visit. The chief minister requested the Prime Minister to raise two main issues during their diplomatic talks – retrieval of Katchatheevu island and protection of traditional fishing rights of Indian fishermen, and ensuring the rights and freedom of the Tamil-speaking people in the island nation.
Politically, neither Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) nor AIADMK have a stronghold in these coastal communities, which tend to swing. The last leader to have dominated here was M G Ramachandran, founder of ADMK (later AIADMK). According to the 2010 census, the population of the fishermen community is 787,000, which is scattered across more than 600 marine fishing villages.
BJP leader and Union home minister Amit Shah flagged off Tamil Nadu party president K Annamalai’s padyatra ‘en mann en makkal’ (my land, my people) from Rameshwarman in Ramanathapuram in July.
Meanwhile, leader of Opposition Edappadi Palaniswami (EPS) and expelled AIADMK leader O Panneerselvam (OPS) had also flagged the issue of 13 sea pirates attacking Tamil Nadu fishermen on August 22. EPS demanded the Tamil Nadu government to extend relief measures to affected fishermen, while OPS sought the intervention of the EAM Jaishankar. EPS instructed his party functionaries to extend relief measures to the victims.
EPS added that the AIADMK government had formed a coastal security group to ensure the safety and livelihood of the fishermen. “But due to the incompetent DMK government, this unit is defunct,” EPS said on August 22.
