INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Protesters carrying black flags and black balloons in Chennai ahead of PM Narendra Modi's visit.
It was a roadshow of a different kind that awaited Prime
Minister Narendra Modi in Chennai this morning
As the police tightened security in and around the Chennai airport, a solid mass of protesters, armed with black flags and black balloons,
lined Anna Salai - the approach road
The show of protest forced the Prime Minister to stay off roads, and depend on a chopper instead to go about his engagements
Later, the police detained nearly 200 protesters.The Prime Minister is in Chennai to inaugurate DefExpo, the prestigious exhibition that
seeks to project India as one of the major defence manufacturing hubs
But to get to Thiruvidanthai on the outskirts of Chennai, he took a chopper straight from the airport
The aircraft is on stand-by to take him to the IIT Madras campus, where he is expected to attend a programme at the adjoining Adyar Cancer
Institute later in the day.The opposition DMK and fringe groups had hit the streets since morning, expressing anger against what they call
the Centre's failure to form a Cauvery Water Management Board
A number of film personalities and politicians led the protests
DMK leader MK Stalin, who was leading the party cadres, tweeted the photographs.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 PM Modi a "coward" for taking a chopper instead of staying on the road.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 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.In February, the Court had laid down a water
sharing formula and gave a deadline to the Centre to form the body that would be in charge of implementing the process.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 in May.
