In keeping with the assurance given to the chief minister, when the anti-KNPP Struggle Committee representatives met her in Chennai on Wednesday, the 127 protesters, including 20 women, broke their fast at the venue in front of the local church.
Later in the evening when the news of the Cabinet resolution came in, the protesters greeted it with thunderous applause, even as veteran anti-nuclear activists spearheading the struggle, Udhayakumar, Anton Gomez and others profoundly thanked Jayalalitha for “standing by the people of Kudankulam area” in this sensitive demand for the closure of the plant.
The state government’s Cabinet resolution is considered to be a big symbolic push forward for the struggle.
But protests will, nonetheless, continue until their final objective of closing down both the 1,000 MW each nuclear reactors, built by the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) with Russian assistance, was shut down, Udhyakumar said.
Even as the clock kept ticking anxiously for thousands of people from nearby villages and districts gathered at the protest venue expressing solidarity for the fast, Bishop of Tuticorin Diocese Yvon Ambrosia by 11:50 am offered the first glass of mango juice to one of the protesters and announced that their indefinite hunger strike was being called off for now.
“We should respect the chief minister’s sentiments and as a gesture of goodwill we will end the fast now,” the Bishop said.
Though at the end of the day, several other questions remain unanswered for the protesters, they are mulling an agitation to picket the nuclear plant if NPCIL did not stop on site works within a reasonable time.
Deccan Herald is on WhatsApp Channels | Join now for Breaking News & Editor's Picks