Suresh Keezhatur, the leader of the “Vayal Kilikal” or Paddy Birds agitating against the widening of the national highway in the Kuppam-Kuttikol strech passing through the lush green 250 acre paddy fields, said that the CPM leadership is in the grip of land mafia and that’s the reason why the adamant stand has been taken by the party in this issue. Suresh spoke to Organiser. Excerpts:
What prompted you to take up this agitation in a red bastion
We are all CPM cadres and we are against the forced eviction and arrogance being meted out by the party leadership in this area. We are in a genuine fight for a cause of saving our paddy fields on 250 acres and if the road is built the paddy fields will be destroyed as well as this will kill the water sources. The road will be built at a height of 11.5 ft which requires around 1.5 lakh load of soil to fill and this will be procured by demolishing the nearby hills and this would have double environmental impact to our area.
Does this mean that you are against devolopment?
We are not against development and roads are welcome. The Kerala Shashtra Sahitya Parishad comprsing of supporters of the left movement which can also be called an off shoot of the party, has given a feasability report which states that fly overs can be built instead of destroying the paddy fields and demoishing of hills for soil and mud. This however was rejected by the CPM leadership mostly out of greed as the party is now in the grip of several real estate agents and mafia who will have a windfall once the project is implemented . This mafia has even penetrated in the local grass root level cadres of the party and this is leading to catastrophe.
What happened on March 14, 2018?
The CPM seems to have not learnt lessons from the experience it has had in Nandigram which was also on March 14 but 2007. That one shoot out led to the CPM’s eradication from a state which it had ruled for more than thirty years at a stretch. This will happen here also if the party and the government led by it do not come to terms with the realities and take necessary action to prevent this. The CPM controlled police force led by Taliparama DySp Venugopal and a horde of policemen landed near our agitating shed and called for us to vacate and when we tried to immolate ourselves pouring Kerosine, the police relented. However the CPM leaders who had accompanied the police insisted and finally the police overpowered and removed us.While we were being removed, the party leaders and some cadres destroyed our sheds by burning them. This is indeed the CPM’s arrogance and we have decided to continue with the agitation from March 27.
Do you feel that the Government will resort to the extreme just like in Nandigram
Well, if they go for that then nothing to be said. The CPM of Kerala has already lost touch with the ground realities and they are in a pseudo world of money and sleaze. This will lead to the party’s catastrophe if the government goes to the extreme just like in Nandigram. Let the party leadership have some wisdom and agree on the terms put forward by the agitating farmers who are genuinely fighting for the rights to live and farm in their own land. *
CPM is a fascist party, alligned with the affluent
KK?Rema, the widow of Marxist rebel leader T P Chandrasekharan, who was brutally hacked to death by the CPM goons in 2012, is currently the leader of the Revolutionary Marxist Party (RMP). Taking her husband’s fight for an alternative Communist path forward, she has been intervening in many social and political issues in the state, for which she has become an ‘eyesore’ for the CPM. KK Rema spoke to Organiser. Excerpts:
The CPM and its former cadres are in a fight to finish in Keezhattoor on the proposed widening of the highway through the paddy fields. Your comment on this.
This is the CPM’s politcal line through out the state.The party is now with the rich and affluent and has drifted totally from its ideology and its poltiical reasoning. It’s now a right wing party for the affluent and for those who fend for it. It has lost touch with the ground realities of the common man and their aims and aspirations. Instead, it is now aligning itself with the rich and affluent. Those with real estate interests are entering the party in large numbers which ultimately will lead to its death knell.
Is this agitation in any way linked to the one your husband late TP Chandrashekharan had raised in Onchiyam, the party bastion?
Even though the two have no similarities, there is one thing in common. The arrogance of the party leaders against the cadres and the ground realtieis. Comrade Chandrashekharan was fighting for certain local issues strictly within the party framework. However the party leaders had other ideas and they wanted to eliminate Chandrashekaran and they did it by killing him ruthlessely with more than 51 cuts on his body using deadly weapons. The CPM is now facing a tough situation in Onchiyam with our party, Revolutionary Marxist Party (RMP) giving a run for the money to the CPM.
The CPM leader Kodiyeri Balakrishnan has invited you to the party fold and said that Chandrashekaran was never against the left forces. Your comment?
This is the joke of the century. A leader of a party which has killed my husband is requesting me to join that party. You can see the deseperation of the CPM and its leaders, they are groping in the dark and are totally mired in ideological confusion. They are now caught in the grip of real estate mafia and several other mafia and the party has totally forgotten the left ideological thinking and it’s a right wing party with the economics and finances in such a direction. *
It’s sheer intolerance
Former state secretary of the Student Federation of India (SFI) and presently the secretary of the Communist Marxist Party (CMP), CP John said that the CPM is intolerant towards anybody and everything and that’s the main reason for this anger against the agitating farmers of Keezhattoor in Kannur district. The senior leader spoke to Organiser. Excerpts:
What do you feel, is the driving force behind the left government to use police and burn out the sheds of protesting villagers in Keezhattoor?
This is the intolerance of the CPM towards them rather than anything else. I am not against development in backward Malabar areas but it should be done by taking people into confidence and dialogues should be initiated. If the local people don’t want the road to pass through their 250 acre paddy fields and if there is an agitation and protest by the famers and villagers in a CPM strong hold, it means there is something to it. A ruling government should take into account the interests of the people and should respect the agitation conducted by the “Vayal Kilikal” in Keezhattoor. The CPM is totally intolerant and will never accept any criticisms.
There is a study by pro–CPM, Kerala Sasthra Sahithya Parishad that there is an alternative to this proposed widening without ploughing through the paddy fields. Why is the government not accepting that proposal?
As I said earlier, the CPM has lost touch with the ground realities and is now listening to the wisdom preached by its leaders who are hand in glove with the real estate lobby. The candidature of CPM Alappuzha district secretary Saji Cherian in Chengannur byelection is a clear message given to the public by the party that it is hand in glove with the real estate lobby. As I said earlier the intolerance of the CPM towards issues is the reason why they are not accepting the report given by their own organisation.
The Government burnt the shed on March 14 which coincidentally is the 11th anniversary of Nandigram. Is the CPM repeating a Nandigram here?
I don’t know what the CPM is going to do but the party bosses don’t have the wisdom now to initiate a dialogue with the agitating farmers in a party bastion. All those who are in the strike and protest are party workers and hard core cadres who had once given their life to the party, atleast the party should take care of this truth and decide policies on this issue. As there is no proper dialogue within the party and with the agitators, there are even chances of the arrogance of this government leading to a Nandigram like incident. *
CPM is destroying environment
The CPM is taking an arrogant and ruthless stand against the struggle put forward by the former cadres of the party in the red bastion of Keezhattoor in Kannur district. It is a direct message that it’s against the people said Adv V Ratnakaran, Kannur district general secretary of the BJP and a former leader of the ABVP. Excerpts:
What, do you feel, is the root cause of the issue in Keezhattoor?
It cannot be answered in one word. However, the basic issue is the CPM’s arrogance and its attitude of exclusiveness to ideas and people rather than inclusiveness and acceptance which is what the rulers and administrators should do. The CPM of Kannur district has always been arrogant and this was seen in the hundreds of political killings the party carried out against its political opponents like BJP, RSS, Congress, Muslim League and even its left coalition partner and junior brother, CPI. Not a single political party in Kannur district has escaped beatings and killings at the hands of the CPM and this basic arrogance is the result of this agitation snowballing into a major problem for the government and the party.
The CPM leadership and even the Chief Minister for that matter have been saying that this fight is against development and that the Vayal Kilikal are very few in numbers, your comment?
They don’t understand the basic problem of people and they scoff at any struggle or people uprising happening. The “Vayal Kilikal” protesters are all hardcore CPM workers, who were now expelled from the party, and their coming out in the open for a cause is something which has to be studied deeply and understand why they are agitating against their own party. The issue is that the CPM has fallen into the hands of real estate lobby and with the NH road going through the middle of the paddy fields means that field is gone for ever. There wont be any cultivation in that area after such a partition of the field and this we have seen in the Kannur bypass road here. Another point is that this is leading to grave damage to environment as according to studies it is learnt that the road will be almost 11.5 ft in height which means that to level the paddy field and convert it into a road, around 1.5 lakh loads of soil and mud are necessary and this will be obtained by levelling nearby hills. This will do lot of damage to the environment and the CPM is not taking that into account.
The government is paying compensation to the land taken from the farmers, still why this agitation?
Compensation will not give the people their paddy fields back.It is more of an emotion. This shows that the CPM does not understand the basic issues of the people and this is the reason of this arrogance. The real issue is the party’s decision to grab the land at any cost for the benefit of the real estate lobby. *
Adv. A Jayashankar, CPI member, well known lawyer and famous media observer, told this weekly that the LDF regime has not only diluted its election manifesto of 2016 but also has gone back on the promise enshrined in it. They have thrown away The Kerala Conservation of Paddy Land And Wetland (Amendment) Bill, 2016 into the thin air. They have swallowed whatever they had told in the past about the environment protection. It is cruel to construct a highway in the very paddy field the poor farmers like to protect. The Government is taking wrong move by oppressing the farmers’ agitation by insisting on filling the wetland which they (farmers) are particular to protect. This is the repetition of what CPM did in Nandigram and Singoor. Even though West Bengal did not lack barren lands fit for industrial projects, CPM regime was too adamant to allot the very same paddy fields to the corporates. And the result—CPM and LDF lost the power, lost the people’s confidence. And, the state did not get any of those projects; they went to Gujarat. So, at the end of the day, the bottom line of the CPM, LDF and government is loss, loss, loss and loss.
Veteran journalist P Rajan told Organiser that issues like acquisition of land should be considered on a case-to-case basis. One man to lose for the sake of a project is not acceptable. The loss like lack of drinking water, job, etc, should be audited and a system should be formulated for compensating the losers. Burden should not be confined to a group of people. The way, CPM and the LDF government attacked the agitators and set on fire their pandals are undemocratic.
Adv. K Ramkumar, wellknown senior lawyer in Kerala High Court, told this correspondent that the LDF regime and CPM are resorting to atrocities in Keezhattoor. It is too undemocratic. The government steps affect several families and women too adversely. Environmental impacts are also to be considered. Government should come out for discussions with the agitating farmers and find out a solution.
— (As told to T Satisan)
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