CHENNAI: Netizens have been wide awake to the Cauvery issue 24x7 for the past couple of weeks, just as they were over the Jallikattu issue 15 months ago. The number of tweets and posts in support of the Cauvery Management Board increased during the past one week as the six-week deadline was fast approaching. It reached its peak on the day when the deadline ended and it is still going on unabated during the past few days.
Though the tweets and posts criticise the State and the Centre, anger is turned more towards the Centre with all messages saying that it has betrayed Tamil Nadu. The hashtag #IndiabetraysTamilnadu is trending in Twitter with netizens bringing in many environmental-related issues too, where the Centre is accused of failing in its duty. The video and photos of flash demonstration by a few youth on the Marina on Saturday over the Cauvery issue went viral in social media. Late in the night, another group of youth raised slogans on Besant Nagar beach and the photos were shared and by netizens.
Since the continued agitations demanding the closure of Sterlite Copper unit in Thoothukudi for nearly two months have added to the anger of the netizens, the environmental clearance granted for the India-based Neutrino Observatory (INO) project in Theni district with permission for using water from the Mullaiperiyar dam has further triggered the protests on social media.
On the other hand, the BJP and RSS supporters engaged in a war of words on social media with critics of the Centre. They argued that the Cauvery, Sterlite and hydrocarbon projects are decades-old issues and the BJP government at the Centre was in no way connected to the prevailing situation on those issues. Since every political party and individual organisation, including traders bodies and pharmacists, have announced agitations in the coming days demanding formation of the Cauvery Management Board, the social media will be busy too. Will this trend get aggravated or not depends on the clarification to be given by the Supreme Court when it takes up the contempt petition filed by Tamil Nadu government and the Centre’s petition on April 9.