About 400 Adivasis in Wayanad, who have been protesting in front of the district Collectorate for about two weeks, have now begun a relay hunger strike. They began the hunger strike on Thursday as the government was yet to respond to their protest.
Protesting against an alleged land deal between the Forest Department and a private company, hundreds of Adivasis occupied the forest of Thovarimala in Wayanad on April 21. But on April 24, just a day after polling in Kerala for the Lok Sabha Election, the state police allegedly evicted the protestors forcefully from the land. Following this, the protestors gathered in front of the collectorate on April 24 evening and have been agitating there ever since.
The CPI(ML) leaders who led the struggle were arrested by the police before the eviction. MP Kunjikanaran was one among the arrested three.
MP Kunjikanaran also started hunger strike in prison a few days ago. He was shifted to Kannur district hospital on Thursday following the hunger strike. The relay hunger strike was begun by district convener of land protest committee P Veliyan.
“We have been protesting for over two weeks. In this time period, the authorities only came for a discussion on the issue once. Nothing positive came out of the meeting and now it seems like the government has completely ignored our struggle. Is it because this agitation is by Adivasis?” asks PM George, CPI (ML) state committee member.
Meanwhile Dalit activist Sunny M Kapikad told TNM that government has taken a dispiriting stand in the issue. “Arresting the leaders of protest after calling them for meeting and evicting the Adivasis using force cannot be justified,” Dalit activist Sunny M Kapikad told TNM.
The protesting Adivasis are demanding that 104 hectares of vested forest in Thovarimala adjacent to the plantation of Harrisons Malayalam Private Limited, should be distributed to the landless among them. The 104 hectares of land which was in the possession of Harrisons Malayalam was deemed as excess land through the Kerala Land Reforms (Amendment) Act, 1969.
“The protestors have raised a demand of two acres for each of the family. But there is a practical difficulty in finding this much land,” Wayanad District Collector AR Ajayakumar told TNM.
He also added that the district administration has taken the possible initiatives that it could. “On the first day of their strike in front of the Collectorate itself, we held a meeting. Things have been notified to the government. Now it is up to the state government to decide,” the Collector says.
Meanwhile Dalit activist M Geethanandan told TNM that there was no such practical difficulty in finding land for Adivasis in Wayanad.
“To implement the Kerala Private Forests (Vesting and Assignment) Act, 1971, the Madhava Menon Commission was formed. As per the commission report that came out in 1974, it had found assignable and non-assignable land. And we have found that the vested forest in Thovarimala comes under the assignable land,” says Geethanandan.
According to activists, the agitations had always remained within the tribal population. “The Adivasi movement has not been taken up by the ‘civil’ society. CPI(ML) heading this agitation of Adivasi is a good sign,” she says.