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Protest breaks out in Chennai against Swamy’s remarks
Sep 04, 201411:35 AM
Protest broke out all over Chennai on Wednesday against BJP leader Subramanian Swamy’s remarks that he had “advised” the Sri Lankan government not to release the boats of fishermen as they were rich and out to destroy the marine resources.
At Rameswaram, over 3,000 fishermen assembled in front of the office of the Fisheries Department and staged a demonstration, raising slogans against Dr. Swamy, burning him in effigy and demanding an apology.
Referring to Dr. Swamy’s remarks made during a debate in a private Tamil channel that the boat owners were rich and it was enough if Sri Lanka released the hapless fishermen, P. Sesu Raja, a fishermen leader, said Dr. Swamy was trying to make it out that the boats were owned by corporates.
All 850 mechanised boats in the fishing jetty here were owned by fishermen, who put out to sea along with others for livelihood. In the case of aged owners, their sons were engaged in fishing. “Most of the fishermen are in debt as they bought the boats, borrowing from moneylenders or pawning their jewels.” – The Hindu reports
