CHENNAI:Sporting a salt and pepper beard and specs, the lanky crusader was catapulted as the face of the militant anti-nuke struggle, which rattled the atomic establishment and proved to be a thorn in the flesh for the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who was basking in the glory of the strategic nuclear deal with the US. The massive agitations and protests since 2011 to 2014, spearheaded by the US-educated S Paramarthalingam Udayakumar (56), did cast a doubt over the fate of the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project (KKNPP). For, even after its commissioning in July 2013, the struggle was prolonged till May 2014.
Now, the once-powerful movement has fizzled out, and his former associates blame it on his style of leadership and functioning. Though he had campaigned against KKNPP since the 90s, he was not a leading light of the movement then. A native of Nagercoil, he had his higher education in the US, earning a doctorate in Peace Studies. On his return, he ploughed a lonely furrow and his campaign was a low profile one. But when the second phase of the agitation got steam, he emerged as the face of the movement. And, the Fukushima nuclear disaster greatly helped the anti-nuke campaign. But this time, he shifted to Idinthakarai, the epicentre of the protests to be with the people. Ironically, now he appears to have left Idinthakarai for good, though continuing to be the convenor of the People’s Movement Against Nuclear Energy (PMANE).
After his political plunge on the AAP ticket from Kanniyakumari in the last Lok Sabha poll turning into a disaster, his authority came under a cloud. He secured a little over 8,000 votes from a constituency which has a significant fishermen population, while two of his PMANE colleagues got a respectable number of votes. He had quit the AAP to launch his own outfit, ‘Pachchai Thamizhagam’ (Green Tamil Nadu), modelled on the Greens in Europe.
Two of the PMANE triumvirate, M Pushparayan and R F Mughilan, have returned to their grassroots ativism. Though there were fissures within the PMANE when Udayakumar forced others to fall in line on joining AAP and enter the electoral fray, things turned sour after the electoral rout. “I am no longer part of the group, and has had no contacts with the other leaders for over a year,” says Pushparayan. “I would not participate in protests headed by Udayakumar. But am keenly watching the happenings in Kudankulam plant now,” he added. Attempts by Udayakumar to make peace with Mughilan were turned down by the latter. Mughilan says he never supported Udayakumar’s decision.
How Things Panned Out
Nov 2001: PMANE formed in Madurai
Sep 2011: Udayakumar leads indefinite fast, and ends it after 11 days
Sep 9, 2012: Violence during Protests. He slaps defamation notice on PM Manmohan Singh.
Sep 2012: Prashant Bhushan and Arvind Kejriwal visit him at Idinthakarai.
May 2014: Joins AAP and contests Lok Sabha polls from Kanniyakumari, but loses to Pon
Radhakrishnan
Jan 2016: Launches ‘Pachai Thamizhagam’ (Green Tami Nadu) party