Vayalkilikal to take out long' march

Kannur: The ‘Vayalkilikal’ will take out a long march from Keezhattoor to Thiruvananthapuram on the lines of the peasants’ march held in Maharashtra. The date will be announced  at a convention  in Kannur on May 5.

‘Vayalkilikal,’  the rebels who split from the CPM in support of  the  green cause at  Keezhattoor,  want to prove that the Keezhattoor agitation is one final attempt to save the wetlands and ecology of Kerala. 

“We need support from all districts to make the event a success. The groundwork for the same is going on at  various places,” said Mr Suresh Keezhattoor, leader  of ‘Vayalkilikal.’ According to sources, the long march would expose the hypocrisy of CPM over the farmers’ issues. “It was the CPM’s farmers’ wing which organised a massive rally in Maharashtra where it does not have a strong presence. But when the same issue cropped up in Kerala,  the CPM is against farmers and paddy fields,” said a CPM supporter in Kannur, who requested anonymity. The  CPM failure in implementing the Conservation of Paddyland and Wetland Act of 2008 and publishing the land data bank would also be raised.

The CPM had attempted to dissuade the ‘Vayalkilikal’ from organising the long march, but  didn’t succeed.  Kannur district secretary P. Jayarajan himself  met nine of the 11 ousted members of ‘Vayalkilikal,’ but they refused to budge.

The ‘Vayalkilikal’ too did not want to invite more ire of the party and expected the intervention of the  CPM party congress,  but nothing happened. Meanwhile, a team from the union ministry of environment and forest will visit  Keezhattoor on May 3 to study  the impact of the bypass project on environment.