Instigated By Left Wing Radical Organisation : Tuticorin Villagers Say In Their Petition 

A Tamil separatist left-wing group called 'Makkal Athikaram' (People Power) had infiltrated protests in Thoothukudi demanding closure of Vedanta Resources Sterlite Copper plant and was actively brainwashing a section of people, according to a testimony by coastal villagers. Robert, head of the association for traditional catamaran fishermen of Thoothukudi and local fishermen association head Isakimuthu along with men and women from the coastal villages gave a detailed petition to the Thoothukudi District Legal Services Authority, reported Deccan Chronicle. They said that originally, the local people had decided only to conduct an attention-demanding civil protest at a school campus on the day the tragic shooting event took place. From April onwards, there seemed to have been systematic infiltration by the fringe group among the youths and women in selected coastal villages. On 23 April , these groups first organised a rally of the people to the pollution control board to petition against Sterlite. This rally was without incidents but it also marked the shift of leadership - subtly ousting of the local leaders and ‘Makkal Athikaram’ taking over.

Then in specific areas like area of the Mary Church, Cruz-puram and Fatima Nagar were targeted. Lawyers of the above organisation instigated the youths and women of this area that they should agitate against police oppression. So while most people believed that 22 May rally would be as peaceful as April rally, the ‘sudden instigators’ disappeared. The petitioners further pointed out that none of these 'sudden leaders’ got even a scratch on them and they completely disappeared after the tragedy. These revelations from the coastal villagers on a specific anti-Indian left wing radical organisation and their methodology points to how in Tamil Nadu the agitations are aimed to create human tragedies which in turn can be used to perpetuate more agitations and recruitment among the unemployed state youth for the secessionist causes.