Fishermen threaten to boycott polls
Fishermen associations in Ramanathapuram district on Friday announced an indefinite strike with immediate effect condemning the Sri Lankan Navy for arresting the fishermen from Tamil Nadu under ‘false charges’.
An emergency meeting was convened in view of the arrest of 32 fishermen from Rameswaram and Thangachimadam on Thursday by the Sri Lankan Navy personnel in Neduntheevu and at Mannar in the Palk Strait. All the 32 men were remanded in judicial custody. Five trawlers were also impounded by the Sri Lankan authorities.
In the emergency meeting, several fishermen associationmembers blamed the Centre for not effectively handling the situation. “If the Prime Minister or the External Affairs Minister had held talks, the Sri Lankan government would have positively responded,” one of them said.
The number of arrested fishermen, which crossed 150 since January, and impounded boats, which stood at 30, had instilled a sense of insecurity in the fishermen. Recently, the Sri Lankan courts had sentenced the fishermen to imprisonment under the charge of repeating the offence. They said they would give up fishing.
The meeting also passed a resolution to boycott the Lok Sabha poll scheduled for April 19. “When the elected representatives have not kept their promises, why should we support them?,” a representative said. The fishermen would surrender their ID cards such as Aadhaar, electors photo identity card and other documents with the Tahsildar in Rameswaram on April 8, the meeting resolved.
The fishermen said they would reconsider their decisions only when the fishermen jailed in Sri Lanka were released. The Centre should assure them that there would not be any arrests by the Sri Lankan Navy personnel, they added.
Speaking to The Hindu, fishermen leader P. Jesu Raja said last month, a delegation from Rameswaram met External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar in New Delhi. “But nothing tangible has worked for us. The attacks by the Sri Lankan Navy on us have only intensified,” he added.