‘Tried to break me mentally inside prison; I will continue my protest for farmers’: Activist Arul Arumugam

The Tamil Nadu Government had invoked the Goondas Act against Arul as well as six other farmers. It later revoked the Act against the six others and they were released. However, Arul remained in prison, and farmer organisations and activists continued to protest and urged the government to drop all charges against him.

On January 5, P Amudha, Principal Secretary, Tamil Nadu Government, said that based on various requests, Chief Minister M K Stalin issued orders to cancel the charges against Arumugam under the Goondas Act.

Arul said he was arrested on November 4, 2023, and remanded for two cases including one under the Public Property Damage Act. (Facebook/Arul Arumugam )

On Wednesday, Arumugam came out of prison and was given a welcome by his friends and other farmers.

In an exclusive interview with indianexpress.com, Arul spoke about his days in prison, how he felt betrayed by the ruling government and how he is going to take this protest forward.

‘Fake cases’

Speaking about the events that transpired before his arrest, Arul said he was arrested on November 4, 2023, and remanded for two cases including one under the Public Property Damage Act.

“After 68 days, I have come out of prison. A total of 11 cases were registered against me for protesting against the Melma SIPCOT project and all of them are fake. If we go to the collector’s office taking a petition they will register a case for preventing a government employee from discharging his duties,” Arul said.

“We would not be allowed to go on a tractor, we would be stopped midway by the officials and we would be made to wait for an hour or so as. And, as we waited on the road to meet the tehsildar or the other officials, they filed a case saying we resorted to road-roko. On August 29 alone, five cases were registered against me with the same content. We were framed on issues like we had visited several villages in Tiruvannamalai and fought with other people. This is how the cases were filed,” he added.

Arul was among the 21 farmers who were arrested by the state government in November 2023 for protesting against the SIPCOT project. (Facebook/Arul Arumugam)

He said that when on August 29, they were invited for public consultation, a couple of their functionaries were arrested on charges of staging a road blockade. After the protesters questioned the action, the police released them following much deliberation. However, once they were back, they learnt that a case had been registered against them for damaging a mirror of a police vehicle.

“We were remanded in two cases. The Vandavasi police registered a case at Anakavur under the PPT Act. The other case was registered in connection with the incident in July. We had gone to meet the special tehsildar and presented him with a set of 20 questions and told him to provide an answer to these before acquiring the land for the project. On that day, no road-roko took place. However, the police, claiming that we had blocked the road, registered a FIR against us. I have been provided bail for these two cases and we have applied the AB (anticipatory bail) for the other cases against me,” he claimed.

‘Purely a vindictive move’

Arul said officials clad in plain clothes picked him up from a mandapam (hall) in Melma around 1 am on November 4. The officials told Arul they had been instructed to arrest him and they did not have any further information.

“We had been conducting protests for about 125 days on our farmland. We did not cause any hindrance to the public. They did not have any legal hold to stop us and hence they registered a false case against us,” he said.

“After the arrest, I was taken to the Arni station and later shifted to the Vellore Central Prison. I was placed alone inside the high-security prison. It was pitch dark, and the prison authorities didn’t bother to provide even a blanket. After two days, I was taken to Palayamkottai Central Prison (in Tirunelveli). It was purely a vindictive move to put me in a place far away from Tiruvannamalai to ensure I don’t meet my family and friends and break my mental strength,” he said.

Arul said the government put the farmers in different prisons across the state, including Madurai, Vellore, Coimbatore, Tiruchirapalli, and Cuddalore. The government claimed in the media that he was not a resident of Tiruvannamalai, did not own farmland here and had been instigating the farmers to protest.

“My land is about 120 km from the Melma area, and lies in the Thiruvannamalai-Krishnagiri border. My communication address is Krishnagiri, however, my land is in Tiruvannamalai. So, for all land-related matters, we used to visit Tiruvannamalai. With this communication address, they had been claiming I was an outsider,” he said.

“I had protested against the eight-lane expressway project and people of two villages here were affected due to the project and it was they who had sought my help to protest against the SIPCOT project. Don’t the ministers go from one constituency to another in case of any issue? This is a similar case of me lending my hand to a fellow farmer when he is affected due to the project,” Arul added.

‘Would not back down’

When asked how he felt after knowing that except for him, the government had issued orders to revoke the Goondas Act against other farmers and later released them, Arul said he was sad when they were arrested along with him but felt relieved when he learnt that they had been released.

Arul said the government put the farmers in different prisons across the state, including Madurai, Vellore, Coimbatore, Tiruchirapalli, and Cuddalore. (Facebook/Arul Arumugam)

“I know that the government’s plan was to threaten and demoralise me. I was very determined that I would not back down and fight till the very end. My family and my friends were supportive. I have a 13-year-old son and an 11-year-old daughter. They are in Hosur and I told them, including my wife, not to visit me because it is very far. Initially, my wife was a bit shaken but my friends and I instilled confidence in her. In prison, they allow me to have a nine-minute phone call once every week. I made two calls — one to talk to my advocate and another to my wife. I would tell her that this is a civil case, not a crime and I will be released soon,” he said.

Commenting on his equation with the ruling government, Arul said he had campaigned for the party in the 2021 elections, and stuck posters for the local MLAs as he believed that the M K Stalin-led government would stand with them.

“In December 2020, before the 2021 Assembly polls, when Stalin was the Opposition Leader, he participated in a meeting organised by the farmers’ association in Perundurai and we both shared the stage. In that meeting, Stalin had assured that if they came to power, they would not allow any project which would affect the livelihood of the farmers. But now, we understand this was all a drama for the votes, I was betrayed,” he added.

Speaking about how he would take this protest forward, Arul said he would go back to the place where he was arrested even before visiting his house and continue to protest against the SIPCOT project.

He added they are also contemplating legal procedures they can take against the collector and the superintendent of police of Tiruvannamalai, who according to him, had registered false cases against him and other fellow farmers.

“I have done nothing wrong. I fought for my people and I will continue to do so,” said Arul.