Chennai: A different kind of welcome and roadshow awaited Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Chennai on Thursday morning where he has arrived to inaugurate DefExpo.
Security was beefed up and a large number of police personnel was deployed in and around the Chennai airport to keep the protesters at bay.
A solid mass of protesters, with black flags and black balloons, lined Anna Salai – the approach roach.
With protesters lined up enroute, the Prime Minister was forced to stay off roads and depend on a chopper instead to reach Thiruvidanthai, the venue of DefExpo, the prestigious exhibition that seeks to project India as one of the major defence manufacturing hubs.
The police detained around 200 protesters.
The Prime Minister took a chopper from the Chennai airport to Thiruvidanthai on the outskirts of Chennai.
The aircraft is on stand-by to take him to the IIT Madras campus, where the Prime Minister is expected to attend a programme at the adjoining Adyar Cancer Institute later in the day.
The opposition DMK and fringe groups had taken to the streets since Thursday morning, expressing anger against what they call the Centre's failure to form a Cauvery Management Board (CMB). A number of actors and politicians led the protests.
The protest, though, was largely symbolic, since the Prime Minister's travel plans were changed on the eve of his visit in view of the situation. All road routes were cut out and a wall between the IIT Madras and the Adyar Cancer Institute was razed to enable the PM to travel through the walled and gated campus premises. MDMK chief Vaiko called Prime Minister Narendra Modi a "coward" for taking a chopper instead of staying on the road.
BJP suppoters burnt effigy of Vaiko in Coimbatore on Thursday for the remarks he made about Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Protests over the Cauvery water management board has already derailed six IPL cricket matches that were to be played in Chennai. After mammoth protests on Tuesday ahead of a game, all the home matches of Chennai Super Kings (CSK) were shifted to Pune. Announcing the decision late last evening, IPL Chairman Rajv Shukla said the police have expressed inability "to provide security in the prevailing situation".
Public anger over Cauvery waters had peaked since March 29, as the Centre failed to draw up a neutral body to oversee the sharing of Cauvery waters between Tamil Nadu and Karnataka as directed by the Supreme Court.
On February 16, the apex court had laid down a water sharing formula and ordered the Central government to set up the CMB and Cauvery Water Regulation Committee (CWRC) within six weeks, in regards to the Cauvery River water dispute between Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.
As the deadline expired, the Centre went to the top court, asking for clarifications on the structure of the body. Cutting across party lines, political leaders in Tamil Nadu have accused the BJP of trying to score political points in Karnataka, where assembly elections will be held on May 12.
(With inputs from agencies)
