Kerala’s Nandigram
The Pioneer Edit Desk
Villagers resist forcible land acquisition
The people of the sleepy villages in Kinalur of Kerala’s Kozhikode district have been living in fear for the past one week after the police’s terror campaign on May 6, in which more than 60 villagers were injured, and the subsequent round-the-clock raids. The police unleashed a brutal attack on a group of villagers, including women and children, which was protesting against a survey for land acquisition for the construction of a 30-metre-wide road to an industrial facility in Kinalur. Unable to control their rage, the police chased the people to their homes and mercilessly beat them up in their courtyards and verandahs. All this was done for the construction of a road to an industrial park where no big unit exists nor is there a proposal to build new factories. Industries Minister Elamaram Kareem, a neo-liberalist Marxist, has justified the police action saying that the protesters had thrown cow dung at the law-enforcers. Mr Kareem has described the ‘cow dung attack’ as an act by Islamists but there are no takers for this charge. Chief Minister and veteran Marxist VS Achuthanandan, enemy of those whom Mr Kareem represents in the Kerala unit of the CPI(M), has ordered the immediate withdrawal of the police and suspension of the survey. He is now being taken to task by the reformist-dominated State CPI(M) for that decision.
The CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front Government has now announced an all-party meeting on the issue. It has made it clear that all parties in Kozhikode district will be invited to the meeting, except the outfits that represent the villagers who stand to lose their homes and land if the road has to become reality. The plan for the road was originally conceived after the State-run Industrial Development Corporation announced an industrial city project in association with a Malaysian company in 270 acre acquired at Kinalur in 2007. But the land acquisition procedures for the road project allegedly began after the expiry of the MoU signed with the Malaysian firm. During that period, the villagers saw a flurry of activity by real estate agents from outside the area. Reports say that land sharks with CPI(M) connections have bought close to 3,000 acre at inflated rates around the industrial estate. With no mentionable project proposed for the site, these ‘investors’ are now facing the prospect of huge losses. The villagers allege that Mr Kareem and his neo-liberalist comrades are determined to build the road so that the real estate dealers can get enhanced value for their land. Amazingly, though at another end of the country, there are ringing similarities between what happened in West Bengal and what’s happening in Kerala in the name of industry!
Villagers resist forcible land acquisition
The people of the sleepy villages in Kinalur of Kerala’s Kozhikode district have been living in fear for the past one week after the police’s terror campaign on May 6, in which more than 60 villagers were injured, and the subsequent round-the-clock raids. The police unleashed a brutal attack on a group of villagers, including women and children, which was protesting against a survey for land acquisition for the construction of a 30-metre-wide road to an industrial facility in Kinalur. Unable to control their rage, the police chased the people to their homes and mercilessly beat them up in their courtyards and verandahs. All this was done for the construction of a road to an industrial park where no big unit exists nor is there a proposal to build new factories. Industries Minister Elamaram Kareem, a neo-liberalist Marxist, has justified the police action saying that the protesters had thrown cow dung at the law-enforcers. Mr Kareem has described the ‘cow dung attack’ as an act by Islamists but there are no takers for this charge. Chief Minister and veteran Marxist VS Achuthanandan, enemy of those whom Mr Kareem represents in the Kerala unit of the CPI(M), has ordered the immediate withdrawal of the police and suspension of the survey. He is now being taken to task by the reformist-dominated State CPI(M) for that decision.
The CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front Government has now announced an all-party meeting on the issue. It has made it clear that all parties in Kozhikode district will be invited to the meeting, except the outfits that represent the villagers who stand to lose their homes and land if the road has to become reality. The plan for the road was originally conceived after the State-run Industrial Development Corporation announced an industrial city project in association with a Malaysian company in 270 acre acquired at Kinalur in 2007. But the land acquisition procedures for the road project allegedly began after the expiry of the MoU signed with the Malaysian firm. During that period, the villagers saw a flurry of activity by real estate agents from outside the area. Reports say that land sharks with CPI(M) connections have bought close to 3,000 acre at inflated rates around the industrial estate. With no mentionable project proposed for the site, these ‘investors’ are now facing the prospect of huge losses. The villagers allege that Mr Kareem and his neo-liberalist comrades are determined to build the road so that the real estate dealers can get enhanced value for their land. Amazingly, though at another end of the country, there are ringing similarities between what happened in West Bengal and what’s happening in Kerala in the name of industry!
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