Top

BJP plans to bring land struggles on single forum: Kummanam Rajasekharan

Over 500 families are fighting for justice in Gavi.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: State BJP president Kummanam Rajasekharan is on a mission to bring the people behind all land struggles in Kerala on a single platform. He will kick off his mission from Gavi in Pathanamthitta on Tuesday. Besides Gavi, there are land struggles going on at Arippa, Chengara, Thrissur, Wayanad and Aralam for the last several years without respite. Over 500 families are fighting for justice in Gavi. A majority of them have come from Sri Lanka as agricultural labourers and living in shacks. His first step is to meet the Adivasis and Dalits who are behind various land struggles across the state.

He has decided to devote the remaining days of this month as well as the entire February to this cause. He is expected to call a convention of all such movements in Kerala during mid-February. The venue would be decided later according to their choice. He told DC that although the Adivasis and Dalits form the backbone of the agricultural economy, they had not yet benefitted from the land reforms that the Kerala Government initiated in the 1950s. "My intention is to co-ordinate all the leaders behind the land struggles. Someone has to take the initiative as they are not getting due recognition in their fight for justice and they couldn't bargain for it," he said.

He rued that majority of the land struggles like Chengara, Arippa and Aaralam had been limited to the local region alone forcing their leaders not to take it across the state. At the same time, he feels, the existing Land Reforms Act had to change as the surplus land and leased land originally belongs to the Adivasis and Dalits alone. C. K. Janu of the Janadhipathya Rashtriya Sabha, an ally in the NDA's Kerala chapter, will be accompanying Mr Rajasekharan in his mission to bring them on a single platform, an agenda set by the national leadership.

( Source : Deccan Chronicle. )
Next Story