DMK to observe hunger strike today to highlight attacks on fishermen

Principal opposition party DMK is raising the perennial fishermen issue to up its ante against the ruling BJP and AIADMK ahead of the elections with a day-long hunger strike involving over a dozen fishing hamlets along East Coast Road on Friday.

They are demanding Prime Minister Narendra Modi to register his condemnation against Sri Lankan government for the alleged killing of four Indian fishermen by Lankan Navy between Neduntheevu and Katchatheevu on January 17. Recalling the suspicion raised about the fishermen death by fishermen association in the state and statement of Lankan minister Douglas Devananda on the issue, DMK district secretary cum Saidapet MLA Ma Subramaniam, who has announced the hunger strike, said that it was worrisome that the BJP-led Centre was being a mute spectator to the atrocities of the Sri Lankan government, which was unleashing murderous attacks on Tamil Nadu fishermen and also denying compensation for the life and livelihood loss suffered by the fishermen. Asking the PM to register his condemnation with Colombo for the killing of Indian fishermen by their navy, Subramaniam also urged the Modi government to insist the island nation to pay Rs 5 crore each to the families of the four deceased fishermen.

Claiming that over 800 fishermen of the state have been killed by the Sri Lankan Navy since the early 1980s, Subramaniam said the navy of the island nation was repeatedly attacking TN fishermen in violation of the agreement reached after bilateral talks between fishermen of the two nations in 2017 that no bodily harm should be caused by either parties. The fishermen’s death has provided fresh fodder for the opposition ahead of the elections.