Indo-Israel training programme for farmers in Thally cancelled amid protest from CPI(M) and affiliate body
Communist Party of India (Marxist) Tamil Nadu secretary P. Shanmugam had waved the red flag over the programme, organised by the Horticulture Department, because of Israel's war in Gaza.
Mr. Shanmugam said he had taken up the issue with the Chief Minister's Office. 'The event has now been cancelled.'
When contacted, the project officer of the Indo-Israel Center of Excellence confirmed the development. However, he was not aware of the reason.
Senior officials of the Horticulture Department were not reachable.
Protest planned
The CPI(M) district unit had planned a protest at the venue in Thally.
The four-day programme, under the aegis of MASHAV — Israel's Agency for International Development Cooperation — was to be held at the Indo-Israel Centre of Excellence for Cut Flowers.
The party's intervention came by after writer Aadhavan Deetchanya, general secretary of Tamil Nadu Progressive Writers and Artists Association, condemned the programme.
Mr. Deetchanya told The Hindu, 'At a time when Israel's imperialist project decimated Gaza's soil and its children and the country was being isolated and condemned universally, Tamil Nadu's Horticulture Department organising the event amounted to sanitising Israel's crimes...'
The Tamil Nadu Progressive Writers and Artists Association had also been at the forefront of the recent protests against Israel Film Festival that was to be organised by a film appreciation foundation.
Transfer of technology
The Indo-Israel Centres of Excellence have been established, under the Indo-Israel Agriculture Project, as part of cooperation through transfer of technology. In Thally, a Centre of Excellence was established for cut flowers in 2017.
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