Cauvery water row: Tamil outfits plan to bowl out Chennai vs Kolkata IPL match

CHENNAI: A motley group of politicians, movie makers, actors, Tamil rights activists and farmer outfits plan to protest near the MA Chidambaram stadium here against the season’s first Indian Premier League match in Chennai on the supposition that cricket will divert public attention from the raging dispute over sharing of the Cauvery water.

Former legislator T Velmurugan, who runs a party espousing livelihood rights of indigenous Tamils (Tamizhaga Vazhvurimai Katchi), set off the clamour to move matches away from Chennai even as the Chennai Super Kings ran a glitzy social media campaign announcing its return to the IPL fold after a two-year ban.

The two large Dravidian parties — AIADMK and DMK —have largely kept away from the uproar even as smaller parties with a purely regional focus joined the chorus. On Monday, a collective of movie directors such as Bharathiraja and actors addressed a press conference to announce that they will “hold protests in a democratic manner” against CSK’s home match against the Kolkata Knight Riders on Tuesday.


“We are not against cricket or IPL. We do not want the spirit of protest to get diluted by a distraction,” said actor Sathiya Raj. He said there will be protests and demonstrations on Tuesday.

Bharathiraja said his outfit will lower the tone of protest once “genuine intentions” emerge from the Centre.

SECURITY TIGHTENED
Security has been beefed up outside the MA Chidambaram stadium ahead of the match against KKR.