Kerala opposition rakes up 'deep sea project'

The opposition United Democratic Front, a bloc led by the Congress party is hoping to win back the support of the fishing communities in the upcoming elections to choose a new government in Kerala.

Thiruvananthapuram:The opposition United Democratic Front (UDF) led by the Congress party, is raised the scrapping of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) the government signed with a US company for deep-sea fishing trawlers.

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan cancelled the MoU and announced a probe by senior bureaucrat TK Jose owing to a controversy regarding the deal.

The UDF considers the issue a golden chance to regain hold among the fishing communities who had completely forsaken the Congress-led front during the local body polls.

Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala demanded the resignation of the Fisheries Minister for inking the deal with the Indian arm of the American company EMCC for Rs 5000 crore. The deal with the company was for deep-sea fishing and allied processing using state of the art technology, besides building deep-sea trawlers and upgrading harbours to European standards.

With the Assembly polls round the corner, and the fishing community seen as a huge vote bank, which of late has been more aligned to the Left. Congress expects to exploit the deep-sea fishing project in its campaign, which it expects will be able to swing this huge vote back to its advantage.

Chennithala alleged that the deal is meant to sell off our marine wealth and endangering the livelihood of the fishermen.

By raking up a pre-poll controversy on the deal for deep-sea fishing using 400 trawlers and 5 mother vessels in the deep sea of Kerala, the Opposition Leader and the UDF are trying to cash in on the angst of the fishermen communities.

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The UDF has already started more stirs and campaign activities in the coastal regions. On February 25, at Poonthura, the main fishing village in Thiruvananthapuram district, Ramesh Chennithala would stage a ‘satyagraha’ from 9 am to 5 pm.

From March 1 onwards, the UDF high-level committee has formulated two coastal rallies; one from Vizhinjam in Thiruvananthapuram and another from Kasaragod.

Former Minister Shibu Baby John would lead the rally from Thiruvananthapuram and T N Prathapan, Thrissur MP, would lead the coastal rally from Kasaragod. The rally would culminate at Ernakulam on March 5.

Of the total 140 Assembly constituencies, 47 constituencies are in coastal regions. Most of these constituencies are currently with the LDF.

If the angst among the fisher folks towards the Government can be retained till the polls, the UDF calculates that it can take over most seats in the coastal areas.

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In South Kerala, most of the fisher folks are from Muslim and Christian backgrounds. These communities, who had been traditionally supporting the UDF, had forsaken the UDF in the last local body elections.

The UDF evaluates that the coastal region went to the LDF in local body polls as a result of pension, food kit distribution and other welfare activities by the Government.

The UDF, through the agitations in the coastal villages, is desperately trying to regain the lost vote bank and also overturn the pro-government sentiments here into anti-government.

The organisation of Catholic Bishops of Kerala, KCBC, and the Latin Church, which is highly influential among the fishermen’s regions had also come out against the deep sea fishing deal, giving the UDF a boost for its coastal stir.

Rahul Gandhi’s scathing attack on the LDF Government’s deep-sea trawlers deal at the culmination of Aishwarya Kerala Yathra, is considered by the State leadership as a green signal from the Congress High command to move forward with the planned agitations.

The party is clinging to hopes that Rahul Gandhi’s visit to one of the fisherman’s villages would prove beneficial in the upcoming elections.

The UDF has also decided to pledge support to the coastal hartal to be observed on February 27, announced by the fishermen associations (barring those affiliated to the Left and the BJP) and the boat owners associations against the deep sea fishing MoU.

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