Minister faces anger of Sterlite protester's mother, video goes viral

Chennai: A video of a woman confronting a minister when he visited a government hospital in Tuticorin district on Sunday to meet those injured during anti-Sterlite protests there last week and asking him why he cannot announce its closure, has gone viral on social media.

The woman's son is being treated at the hospital.

As soon as Information and Publicity Minister 'Kadambur' Raju along with District Collector Sandip Nanduri came near her son's bed, the woman demands to know why he cannot announce that the factory would be permanently closed.

Pointing to the wound on her son's head, she asks him what he would have done if his son had sustained such an injury.

The minister tries to pacify her and says he too is from the same (Tuticorin) district and understands her feelings.

At this point, the son intervenes to ask whether the minister was ready to give in writing that the factory would not operate, to which the minister says, "we will not allow the factory to run".

The months-long protests for the closure of Vedanta's Sterlite Copper unit in Tuticorin over pollution concerns turned violent last week, with agitators fighting pitched battles with police, prompting the personnel to open fire, killing 13 people.