Chennai: Founder president of Tamilaga Vetri Kazhagam (TVK), Vijay, has sought permission to visit Egnapuram village in Kanchipuram district and also meet the people who are protesting against the setting up of the greenfield airport, the second such aviation facility for Chennai, at Paranthur, hoping to make political capital out of the continuous agitation by people of about 20 villages since 2022.
While permission for the meeting on January 19 or 20 had been sought by the party from the police department and other authorities, the party office-bearers have already started the groundwork for the event by speaking to the leaders of the protest committee and visiting the site.
Two State office bearers visited Eganapuram on Pongal Day and identified a five acre land for holding the meeting, while TVK general secretary N Anand was there on Friday to oversee the work being carried out for leveling the vacant ground near the Ambedkar statue in Eganapuram village for Vijay to have his rendezvous with the people.
Ever since the protest exploded against the proposed second airport with the people even holding regular night meetings, taking out processions, hoisting black flags in front of the houses and also meeting the authorities a few times with the demand for identifying an alternative site for the project, outsiders have been prevented from entering the villages.
The people of the villages that would go, along with fertile agricultural land and eco-sensitive water bodies, if the airport project comes up have also boycotted a series of grama sabha meetings, kept off elections and had also passed resolutions demanding the scrapping of the move to take over their land. But the government had already taken all necessary steps for land acquisition in a systematic manner.
Many top political leaders supporting the protesting villagers had been sent away by the police who at one point had erected barricades and checked every vehicle entering the villages that were facing the unrest. So with Vijay’s application for visiting the place still pending, it is not clear if he would be able to meet the people at Eganapuram where the ground is being cleared by his party leaders.
However, as part of political strategy, Vijay wants to be seen as supporting the people of the villages who would lose their houses, lands, paddy fields and other agricultural properties and thus present himself as a politician opposed to the idea of development at the cost of human livelihood even if it amounts to stymieing a Union Government project backed by the State government.
Perhaps the unity of the people of the villages in fighting a development project is seen as an opportunity for garnering their collective support and in turn their votes that a new party like the TVK would desperately need during the elections.
