FRINGE ELEMENTS - birth and evolution.

                                                                     Introduction                                                                     

Demonetisation (november 2016) and the death of chief minister Jayalalitha (December 2016) was followed by the most scintillating marina protest aka jallikattu protest ( january 2017).

Although Jayalalitha was popular for asserting federal rights, she also had a dark history of suppressing every people's protest. The anti liquor protests and the anti nuclear protests (koodankulam) were suppressed by Jayalalitha's iron fist but they served as inspiration for the great Marina protest.

The Marina protest had a voice, people were there every day, families came with children. The Police couldn't control the protesters because they couldn't stop the emotion strongly felt by about 10 crore people. The policemen were simply watching the protest as Volunteers did all the magic. There was no necessity for law and order as over ten Lakh people gathered without any specific guidance. Even the political parties were baffled.

The motive of the protest was to continue the legal rights for the traditional sport called Jallikattu. The people were agitated by the ban on the sport by PETA. In the meanwhile, the central govt also tried to cancel the pongal holidays.  It was obvious that PETA wanted to ban Jalliakattu because the sport indirectly contributes to the preservation of native breed cows which is an identity of Tamil culture. The corporate powers never liked native sustainability of the people.

Vehicles were guided properly and there was no traffic problem, no horn sounds, even headlights were turned off at nights. The second longest beach became an university, the activists were teaching the common crowd, group lectures were happening, dancing and singing was also prominent. Food and water was coming from all over the state to chennai. It was the biggest celebration of the generation.

The protest continued even through the nights, people dint leave the place at any cost, some went home and came back in shifts to maintain the spirit. 

Native cows are getting extinct by the introduction of jersey cows,
there's also a big difference between  A1 and A2 milk. 

The volunteer spirit was not new to anyone because we faced the "Chennai flood" the previous year. 

The unwritten slogan in everyone's eyes was that we are Indians for the past 70 yrs but we are Tamils for over thousands of years. 

The protest could have happened in the American embassy or the airport with a much more serious tone ( intended to disturb the peace of the government and corporate powers) but Marina beach became the soul of the protest.

Inciting incident

No politicians or big stars were allowed, even Tv media was not allowed. Celebrities like Actor Vijay, G.V Prakash and Simbhu acknowledged the protest but the protesters dint want any deviation, they were so careful to not allow anything that could weaken the spirit of the protest. 

Then came R.J Balaji, Raghava Lawrence and Hiphop Aadhi, the only mistake the protestors did was giving these shills some extra space. Aadhi initial songs were based on tamil pride and Lawrence was known for charity, they were allowed to join the protest but they obviously used it to gain more popularity.

Mid point

They did get some attention even though most of the protesters avoided them. At one point Lawrence, Balaji and Aadhi were trying to lead three different groups, people were unconsciously splitting into three groups but luckily the collective spirit was not disturbed.

There were several attempts by the government to stop the protest, they switched off the electricity but couldn't switch off the flashlights of the protesting people's mobile phones. The placards and slogans were sometimes enriched by filthy bad words but there was no censorship, who's going to be bothered about the use of language when the livelihood is at stake. 

pre climax

Lawrence, Balaji and Aadhi were not seen in the beach among the protesters on the final day. They had a meeting with the Govt officials and political parties after which, all three of them released a video message each.

They made the most ridiculous statement, saying "anti social fringe elements have infiltrated the protest".

They said the protest is getting out of hands recently as they were shocked to see the protestors suddenly holding anti Modi placards, self determination status for Tamilnadu placards etc. 

It was obvious that they've been trying to misguide the protesters since the beginning because anti Modi slogans and Tamil nadu flags were there from day one of the protest and it was not a shock to anybody.

People demanded their federal rights and were also requesting a strong Cauvery committee for the Cauvery problem. They were there not just for the Jallikattu issue in specific as commonly believed. Its a milestone in the recent rise of Tamil nationalism politics.

Self sustainability and resource based economy was the major theme. The people were into enough despair already due to the Demonetisation policy of the central govt.  

People of the south had always been vigilant against Aryanism, Hindutva and authoritarianism of the central government.

The government tried to dilute the protest by offering temporary solutions and promises, they also used the celebrities to misguide the crowd. Rj. Balaji went one step further to accuse the people, saying the protest against coke & Pepsi was not the plan. 

The protest has a life of its own it never went in the wrong direction because it never can. Revolutions cannot be created or triggered but suddenly one day when it happens we have to learn to serve it in our best interests and not spoil it. Spoiling a revolution is the most cruel thing to do, Lawrence behaved like he was shocked to see the protest breaking up. He said he had to visit the hospital for treatment and couldn't be there to lead the people, he tried hard to act as though everything happened behind him without his knowledge. 

The protest could have been a game changer in Tamil nadu history but it failed or did it not ?

People formed a human chain in the sea to protect themselves from the police who were obeying orders. 

The police attacked the protesters very early in the morning when the crowd was at its lowest numbers. 

The police atrocity continued  but the few protesters who remained were strong. The temporary promise to revoke the ban on Jallikattu became permanent in no time but the government dint want to just hand over the victory to the protesters. They wanted to re install fear in the people's minds. They ordered the police to attack every protestor and also the fishermen folk who helped the protesters in the final stages. It was an inhuman attack. 

Climax

The real fringe elements (R.J balaji, hiphop aadhi, actor Lawrence) orchestrated a drama in the news media which allowed police to enter and cause the riot, burn fishermen’s huts etc. There were videos of police starting the riot. 

The government said it was a great protest, the people have won the rights for Jallikattu with unity but unfortunately some "anti social" fringe elements had infiltrated, deviating the protest from its true motive of jallikattu rights to other motives like the right for independent Tamil nation and pepsi coke ban etc. 

 Moral and resolution

This was the birth of the popular "fringe elements" theory in Tamilnadu politics. USA and Israel uses terrorism as an excuse to rampage and exploit third world countries while the Tamilnadu politicians use "Fringe elements" as an excuse to misguide the people in every protest (Usually they accuse the protestors as Maoists).

There were video evidences of Police starting the riot by burning autos or throwing stones at public. The police behaved the same way in the IPL protests (Cauvery issue) and their behavior killed 13 valuable lives at the anti Sterlite protests in Thoothukudi.

In Thoothukudi, the fringe elements were the police. The people's protest won and the Government was forced to close down the Sterlite smelter company It looked like the police were ordered to threaten the protesting public and to blame it on the Fringe elements in the end. It looked like the police pre planned and murdered 13 protesters to re install fear in the minds of the masses. The marina protest served as an inspiration for the Thoothukudi protest.

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