It was a day of massive protests in Chennai. Black flags and huge black balloons flew high on the sky with a clear message written on them, asking Prime Minister Narendra Modi to “go back'.
The 4km-long road from Guindy to Chennai airport at Meenambakkam, where the prime minister landed this morning to participate in the 10th edition of the DefExpo at Thiruvidanthai near Chennai, was flooded with protesters, forcing Defence Minister Nirmala Sithraman to walk down one kilometre to reach the airport to welcome Modi.
Several protesters thronged near the airport, raising slogans and holding placards which said 'Go Back Modi.' They even climbed up a giant hoarding to register their dissent, forcing the PM to not to travel by the road and instead take a chopper.
In fact Modi, who travelled by road in Chennai and deviated from his schedule to meet Karunanidhi when he came down for the Daily Thanthi event a few months ago, had to stay away from the Chennai roads only fearing the protesters. The sentiments of the people of the state was massive that most people took to wearing black.
At IIT Madras where Modi‘s chopper landed to take the private lane to reach the cancer institute, students protested with black flags.
Protests led by the opposition DMK turned massive as cinema directors, other political parties like Vaiko’s MDMK, Velmurugan’s Thamizhaga Vazhvurimai Katchi and others joined the agitation. Vaiko called Modi “coward.”
Security was stepped up in the city, and over 5,000 police personnel were deployed in and around the city to avoid any untoward incidents.