KM Abbas, quiet defender of Mullaperiyar Dam, dies at 94
For more than 30 years, he organised farmers across Theni, Madurai, Dindigul, Sivaganga and Ramanathapuram, led agitations, and pursued legal action, to protect Tamil Nadu’s rights under the historic lease agreements.
KM Abbas, widely known as Cumbum Abbas, who fought without compromise throughout his life for the welfare of Tamil Nadu’s farmers and the state’s water rights, passed away at his residence in Cumbum on Monday (October 26) due to age-related illness. He was 94.
A former president of the Cumbum Valley Farmers’ Association and the Five Southern Districts Farmers’ Association, Abbas was a central, if often understated, figure in the decades-long struggle over the Mullaperiyar Dam.
Protecting TN’s rights
For more than 30 years, he organised farmers across Theni, Madurai, Dindigul, Sivaganga and Ramanathapuram, led agitations, and pursued legal action, including early petitions in the Supreme Court, to protect Tamil Nadu’s rights under the historic lease agreements. His sustained efforts contributed to the Supreme Court’s 2007 order allowing the water level of the Mullaperiyar Dam to be raised from 136 feet to 142 feet, and he continued to press for full implementation of later directions for higher storage.
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He repeatedly underlined how Colonel John Pennycuick’s dam diverted west-flowing Periyar waters to irrigate more than two lakh acres of farmland and supply drinking water to over a crore people. Abbas authored books on the dam’s history and on Pennycuick, carefully documenting evidence that strengthened Tamil Nadu’s case. He also served as president of the Cumbum Vaver Mosque Jamaat Committee and opposed projects he believed threatened local agriculture and the environment.
Political leaders express condolences
DMK chief and former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin and leaders of various political parties expressed their condolences on Abbas’s demise. MDMK general secretary Vaiko paid his last respects in person, recalling that Abbas was often the first to inform him of any development on the dam issue. PMK leader Anbumani Ramadoss, TVK MLA Jaganath Misra, AMMK’s TTV Dhinakaran, farmers’ association leaders and many others also paid tributes, describing his death as a major loss to the farmers’ movement and Tamil Nadu’s water-rights struggle.
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Abbas is survived by two sons and a daughter. In an era when interstate water disputes often generate political theatre, he remained for most of his life an unsung hero of the southern water protest, a man who treated the defence of Mullaperiyar not as a campaign but as a lifelong duty to the fields and people of Tamil Nadu. His work leaves a lasting imprint on one of India’s most enduring water disputes.
