'Will Never Regret Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant Agitation'

'Three of my grandparents had cancer. That was the reason I entered the protests and later led it.'

The Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project had a very long gestation period, thanks to the protests from local fishermen who said it would interfere with their fishing and also in the event of an accident they would be the first to die.

The nuclear plant in Tirunelveli district in southern Tamil Nadu survived the collapse of the Soviet Union, with successor-State Russia standing by it.

The agitation was led by S P Udayakumar who has a doctorate in political science and spent many years abroad teaching.

A strong advocate of clean environment, Dr Udayakumar was a regular speaker at international forums on environment. He is a native of Nagercoil, Kanyakumari district, which neighbours Tirunelveli.

He travelled to Kudankulam and addressed villagers there about the dangers of the nuclear power and what would happen in case of an accident. He had the examples of Chernobyl and Fukuyama to support his lectures.

He set up camp in Idinthakarai, village two km from the plant. He was supported by the local church.

Sitting in a small village, he rattled then prime minister Dr Manmohan Singh's government.

The protests lasted for years and was initially supported by then Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa.

When Jayalalithaa later withdrew her support the protests lost steam.

Former President A P J Abdul Kalam visited the site and declared that the plant was totally safe. This gave the plant a much needed boost in the face of public protest.

Finally, in 2013, the Kudankulam plant started operations.

Eleven years later the activists led by Dr Udayakumar are still being harassed, which emphasises the fact that governments, whether at the state or Centre, do not like anyone who challenges their decisions.

"I do not regret leading the protest even though I have been harassed for more than a decade now," Dr Udayakumar tells A Ganesh Nadar.

You have said that there are 63 cases out of 400 still pending in court. Are all these in one court? How many people are being prosecuted in these cases?

Most of the cases are in the Radhapuram court for all activists. I also have cases against me in the Nagercoil court.

I also had an attempt to murder case which was heard every fortnight. Luckily that case is closed now.

I don't know the exact number of activists still being sued, but I can check and let you know.

How often do these cases come up for hearing?

At Nagercoil court I have to appear every fortnight and the Radhapuram court every month.

At the moment the cases in Radhapuram have been paused as they are shifting some documents from Valliyoor to Radhapuram and vice versa.

Have you and other activists engaged lawyers or do you fight your own case? How expensive are the lawyers?

We all have lawyers. Most of them are free. They are fighting for us as they too are supporters for a clean environment.

We do pay for their travel, food and court expenses. It works out to about Rs 500 every hearing.

If you are convicted what is the sentence period in these cases?

It depends. There are UAPA, waging war against the State and sedition cases which have heavy penalties and long periods of incarceration. The others are around three years or less.

You have repeatedly petitioned the Tamil Nadu chief ministers, both from the AIADMK and DMK, but to no avail.

We were not protesting for a wage hike or provident fund. We were protesting for the safety of the larger population. There was no personal gain.

We are not petty criminals. We were protesting against policy.

The Tamil Nadu government opposes the central government on every issue but doesn't support us.

This is because the Tamil Nadu police functions under Home Minister Amit Shah and not Chief Minister M K Stalin.

The Supreme Court stayed most of the cases, so why don't you approach the apex court again?

We did petition the high court and our advocate was Prashant Bhushan.

The court said our cases come under PPDP (Prevention of Damage to Public Property) Act and as such cannot be dismissed.

What public property did we damage? We were sitting quietly in protest, or we gheraoed the plant peacefully.

We never entered the plant or touched anything there. Don't know how our cases come under PPDP law.

The speaker of the Tamil Nadu assembly Appavu told the press that cases against us should be withdrawn.

He could walk into Stalin's chamber and tell him this. This is all drama in preparation for the next election as he is the local Tirunelveli MLA.

You have a doctorate in political science. You are a well known teacher, and internationally respected speaker on the environment, you run your own school, but what about the other protestors?
Tell me about them.

There are priests, green environment activists and fishermen.

How do you think this will end and when do you expect it to end?

We worked for the INDIA bloc because their victory would have ended our woes but that did not happen and we have the same set of vindictive rulers.

Dr S P Udayakumar

Have you ever regretted leading the protest?

You know, there was a lookout circular against me. The Madurai bench of the Madras high court stayed it. The Tirunelveli SP tried to appeal against it.

They did not allow me to renew my passport. I went to court and initially got a passport for one year and then appealed again and got it for three years.

When the lookout notice was not stayed even after the court order, I filed a contempt of court plea against the Tirunelveli SP and Tamil Nadu DGP.

I received a letter from the Tirunelveli SP today that they have taken out the lookout circular.

I will know the truth at the airport if I go abroad.

Let me tell you another incident of harassment. In 2008 I received 5,000 dollars from abroad.

It was deposited in my school trust account and I used it to pay for a van loan I had bought for the school.

They have chargesheeted me now in this case for receiving foreign funds unlawfully without permission.

You need permission only if you receive funds from abroad regularly. This was a one-off incident.

The UAPA case says I asked for a separate flag for Tamil Nadu.

I have never regretted leading the agitation. I used to travel abroad regularly and attend conferences on the environment, now I cannot do that as I have to appear in court regularly.

Three of my grandparents had cancer. That was the reason I entered the protests and later led it.

I will never regret it.

Feature Presentation: Aslam Hunani/Rediff.com