THOOTHUKUDI : After fighting on the streets of Thoothukudi against the industrial units that allegedly polluted her hometown, this professor-turned-protester is now taking the electoral route to continue her fight.
Fatima Babu, who has come to become a household name in the district after emerging as the face of protests against the copper smelting unit of the metals giant, Sterlite, is contesting from Thoothukudi on MDMK ticket.
Now a retired English professor, Fatima started social service in the early 1990s, first by taking up the cause of individuals before moving on to bigger problems. She floated an organisation called ‘Veeranganai’ in 1994 to take up the various causes of the society.
But before all that, she had to fight the battle within her family. “Being an orthodox family, my relatives did not like women to protest in the streets. They even asked me to resign my job. But I was adamant; this only made me more rooted to the protest,” she recalled the early days.
It was around this time that she heard about Sterlite proposing to set up a large plant at Thoothukudi. Fatima, like the majority of the people in the region, was initially exuberant over the plan, as it meant jobs for more and more local youth. When she probed further, Fatima learned about the environment consequences of the Sterlite plant. There began her transformation into an environment activist.
Speaking to Express, she said there were two groups that rose in protest against Sterlite in the mid-1990s. She became part of one of the groups led by former MP Appadurai, and then became an associate of MDMK general secretary Vaiko, a relationship that continues to date. They were together when she moved the southern bench of the National Green Tribunal against the company a few years ago, following a suspected instance of ammonia leak, with Vaiko himself donning the lawyer’s robes.
This is not the first time she is facing elections. Her first dabble in politics came in 2011 when she contested for the post of Thoothukudi mayor on MDMK ticket. Though she lost in the election she gained valuable experience and is geared up to defeat some of the bigger names in the fray. If she gets elected in this polls, she would investigate all complaints about pollution caused by companies in Thoothukudi.