The landless tribals have been staying in tents pitched in the Kumbazha rubber estate of Harrisons Malayalam Ltd (HML) in Chengara, about 120 km from Thiruvananthapuram, since Aug 4, 2007 to mark their protest.
Led by the Sadhu Jana Vimocha Samyukta Vedi (SJVSV) headed by Laha Gopalan, the protesters have been demanding land from the government. Gopalan lashed out at the Left government, especially the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M), which he termed as a party that had no regard for the poor.
‘The CPI-M has proved beyond doubt that they have no concern for the downtrodden. Otherwise, would they have allowed this genuine strike to enter the third year. They have let us down very badly,’ said Gopalan.
On the other hand, around 170 families of plantation workers, who have lost their livelihood due to the tribals occupying the estate, are opposing them and staging another protest at the entry point of the estate.
Leader of opposition Oommen Chandy, who is to partake in a meeting near the venue of the protests Tuesday, said the state government has failed to settle this dispute.
‘We have time and again said that we are prepared to cooperate with the government but they are silent. We are very clear that the government should find out who among the protesters don’t have land and they should be given land. The ball is in the government’s court,’ Chandy told IANS.
State Minister for Backward and Scheduled Communities A.K. Balan said the tribals cannot be given the land they have encroached upon as it is not government land.
‘The state chief secretary has now been served a contempt of court notice for failing to evacuate the protesters. We just cannot use force to evacuate them because then it could turn ugly… But we are confident that we will find a way out soon,’ Balan said.
‘Certainly those who are protesting have a rightful demand and we are not ignoring them. There are genuine problems we are facing in finding suitable land to be given to them. The government along with the help of the opposition will find a solution to this problem soon,’ the minister added.
KOLLAM: The Chengara Land Agitation Solidarity Committee has said that the agitation will be spread throughout the state unless the issue is settled immediately. Solidarity Committee patron and state president of Kerala Dalit Federation P.Ramabhadran said that a conference to be held in Pathanamthitta on August 4 to mark the second anniversary of the Chengara agitation would chalk out the state-wide agitational programmes.
Inaugurating the Kollam district convention of the Chengara Solidarity Committee, Ramabhadran said that despite the concerted campaign by the CPM and the government led by it against the agitation, it was gaining momentum.
The CPM had levelled many allegations against the agitation,including it being an American-sponsored one, and even tried to establish that the agitators were having links with Maoists-Naxalites and the terrorists, he said. In spite of all the repressive methods employed to suppress the agitation such as charging false cases, denying food, medicines and even education to the children, the agitators are very much determined to continue the agitation, he said
.He said that the monopoly of the CPM on the Dalit and landless people’s movements has been shattered and the CPM has been exposed as a party supporting the causes of the Harrisons Plantations company.