Tuticorin Sterlite row: How safe haven Tamil Nadu turned into battleground

About seven years ago, the chief executive of a multinational company had said his company chose Tamil Nadu because the state was peaceful and it maintained the law-and-order situation well. Today, after a spate of protests and violence in the state, his opinion has changed. A Tamil Nadu non-native, he once considered settling down here for good, but now he is looking for an opportunity to leave.

This is not an isolated instance; many of the industrial units in Tamil Nadu, mainly looking for social harmony, would now prefer expanding outside the state. Already struggling to attract investments despite a good business ecosystem, the state might find this as a major blow, says the CEO of a company that is investing over Rs 8-10 billion in expanding outside of Tamil Nadu.

Tamil Nadu, a hotbed for public agitations in recent times, has turned into the most restive of Indian states. According to official data, the state reported 20,450 agitations in 2015. Though the total number of protests was 500 less than the previous year, the state led the country on this count, with Punjab (13,089), Uttarakhand (10,477) and Delhi (10,039) next in line. The number of agitations organised by political parties was 8,312, which was, again, the highest in India. Those organised by government employees, labour organisations, students and communal groups were next to political protests in terms of their numbers.