People's Democracy
(Weekly Organ of the Communist Party of India (Marxist)
No. 01
January 06, 2013
|
Vol. XXXVII
No. 01 January 06, 2013 |
Historic
Land Struggle Begins in Kerala Thousands
Enter the N AMID
thunderous slogans of the sons and daughters of
the soil and the fluttering red flags, hundreds of
volunteers entered on
January 1 the surplus lands in every district of
Kerala, marking the beginning
of a historic land struggle. All the 14 districts of
the state witnessed on the
day massive mobilisation of people who raised
slogans in favour of distribution
of land among the landless, protection of the Land
Reform Act and protection of
the paddy fields. One may note
that selected volunteers are to be
deputed for the land struggle every day. On the day,
Bhoosamrakshana Samiti (Committee for Land
Protection), comprising
the
Adivasi Kshema Sabha, Pattika Jathi Kshema Sabha,
Kisan Sabha and Agriculture Workers
Union, announced that its volunteers were ready to
go to prison and face other
hardships as and when necessary. However, it was the
Kerala Police that backed
out, and refrained from arresting the volunteers. It was exactly
43 years ago when the CPI(M) had
launched a land struggle in Kerala under the
leadership of late Comrade A K Gopalan.
Commemorating that very struggle, which gave land
right to lakhs of landless in
the state, people came out in large numbers on
January 1 to launch a second version
of the land struggle. On the day, 250 volunteers
accompanied by thousands of
people entered the surplus land. The
Bhoosamrakshana Samiti has declared that every day
a hundred volunteers will enter the surplus land.
The Samiti has also declared
that in case the government failed to distribute the
surplus land by January
10, it would construct huts on the occupied lands. At
Vadakkekkalam in Thrissur district, CPI(M) state
secretary Pinarayi Vijayan led the struggle.
Thousands of people under the
leadership of former assembly speaker and Pattika
Jathi Kshema Sabha president K
Radhakrishan entered the lands here. Opposition
leader V S Achuthanandan
inaugurated the struggle at Kadamakkudi in
Eranakulam district. All India Agricultural
Workers Union’s leader A Vijayraghavan inaugurated
the struggle in
Thiruvananthapuram. CPI(M) Polit Bureau member
Kodiyeri Balakrishnan and state
committee member M Vijayakumar led the struggles in
Eranakulam and
Thiruvananthapuram respectively. Central Committee
members P K Gurdasan and Dr
Thomas Isaac inaugurated in Kollam and
Pathanamthitta. At Pathananamthitta,
volunteers put up
red flag on a piece of land that was proposed for a
private airport. Central
Committee members Paloli Muhammed Kutti, P
Karunakaran, Vaikom Vishwan, M C
Josephine and K K Shailaja and state secretariat
member Baby John led the
struggle in other districts. NEW CHAPTER IN LAND STRUGGLE Organised
under the banner of Bhoosamrakshana Samiti, the
people of Kerala are now set to
begin a new chapter in the struggle for land rights. The
Samiti has identified and
selected one lakh volunteers for entering the
surplus lands all over the state. From
January 10 onwards,
the occupied
lands will be distributed among the landless people
in every area and small
huts will be constructed thereupon. The
Bhoosamrakshana Samiti is a joint
platform of the Kerala Karshaka Aamgham (Kerala
Kisan Sabha), Kerala Karshaka
Thozhilali Union (Agricultural Workers Union),
Adivasi Kshema Samiti (Tribal
Development Council) and Pattika Jati Kshema Samiti
(Dalit Development Council) The
surplus lands in every district have already been
identified by the Bhoosamrakshana
Samiti. The current phase of land struggle is aimed
at distribution of the
surplus lands among the landless people and
protection of the paddy fields. Every
day a fixed number of selected volunteers will enter
the surplus lands
identified in various districts. The Samiti has also
decided to stage court
arrest actions everyday and the volunteers, if
arrested, would go to jail
without seeking bail. One
may note that in Kerala no one can hold a plot of
more than 15 acres, though plantations
are exempted from this limit. Some
of the leaders who will lead the struggles are as
below --- Pinarayi Vijayan in
Vadakkekkala estate in Thrissur district, Kodiyeri
Balakrishnan at Paravoor-Padannakkad
in Eranakulam district; P Karunakaran in Kasargode,, Paloli
Muhammad Kutty in
Malappuram, K K Shailaja in Wayanad, state
secretariat member V V Dakshinamurthi
in
