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Four months in, Vijay’s Tamil Nadu is cult rule, not governance

Where’s the governance in Vijay’s Tamil Nadu? Parandur airport to disgraceful ‘jaw’ act in Assembly.

The Tamilaga Vetri Kazhagam-led minority government in Tamil Nadu, headed by Chief Minister Joseph Vijay, has completed four months in office. As the famous Tamil adage goes, “oru paanai sottrukku oru soru padam”, meaning “one grain of rice is enough to test whether the entire pot of rice is cooked”.

So, four months is sufficient time to determine the direction in which Tamil Nadu governance is moving. The same is true of the ‘governance’ decisions and actions taken by the TVK government.

As a test case, let us look at two major executive decisions and one action in the state legislature. The executive decisions relate to the abrupt cancellation of the Parandur International Airport project near Chennai and the hasty decision to build a massive Secretariat building right on Chennai beach. The third pertains to the ugly performance of the Chief Minister in the Tamil Nadu Assembly on 7 September.

The above need to be dealt with in some detail to understand the upstart nature of these decisions and actions.

Also Read: How Vijay’s ‘silent government’ strategy is more than a replay of Tamil Nadu’s movie star CMs

U-turns on ‘nature’ and development

Take the Parandur Greenfield Airport project. Vijay cancelled it because of his earlier commitment to the villagers who lost their rich farming land. Vijay had said, “I am not against development, but I oppose this airport if it comes at the cost of nature.” He pointed out that destroying natural water channels is a key reason why Chennai faces devastating floods year after year. Now in power, he has converted that commitment into state policy, citing the land’s ecological fragility and farmers’ welfare as the main reasons.

This is fine. But within days of the cancellation, his Industries Minister Keerthana announced in the State Assembly that the government was looking into ways to utilise the acquired land for industrial or other purposes. No talk about returning the 5,000-plus acres of land to nature and to the farmers to pursue farming, which is more vital than industries. The hidden agenda seems to be simple — cancel the infrastructure project under some pretext and utilise the farmland for ‘lucrative’ real estate development. And no alternative site has yet been identified for this critical infrastructure project.

Then there is the decision to construct a massive two-million-square-foot, 15-storey new Secretariat at Pattinapakkam in Chennai. This is absurd to the core and raises serious questions under the Coastal Regulation Zone rules. The 25.55-acre site, which is with the Tamil Nadu Housing Board, is virtually on the waterfront, just a few metres from the high-tide line of the Bay of Bengal. Pattinapakkam is an extension of the famed Marina beach, with its lively and serene atmosphere. It is part of Mylapore, which is crowded and part of old Madras City, where traffic is already at a snarl.

With the threat of rising sea levels, this project would be an ecological disaster for the Chennai coast. For the large number of fisherfolk, it would be an economic and livelihood disaster. The project has drawn strong opposition from fishermen and environmental activists, who have raised concerns over its potential impact on coastal livelihoods, public access to the beach and the area’s vulnerability to climate change.

Ironically, it is said that Vijay took the decision on the advice of his astrologer that the CM’s office should face the sea, which would bring him luck and raise him to be Prime Minister. Incidentally, just across the road from this site is the super-luxury apartment owned by Joseph Vijay.

Vijay’s performance as Chief Minister in the State Assembly while replying to a debate on demands for grants for the police department, which he heads, was a........

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