Arun Lakshman/Thiruvananthapuram
14, seems to be the day which CPM will never forget as it was on this day in 2007 that the unfortunate incident of Nandigram happened resulting in the shooting and killing of agitating farmers in Nandigram in West Bengal, a step leading to the eradication of the party in a state ruled by the CPM continuously for 30 years.
However the CPM leadership of Kerala, especially in the red bastion of Kannur which has often been in the news for cruel killings of political rivals in the cruelest manner, fails to realise this. This arrogance and one upmanship of the party may lead to the repeating of Nadigram as the Police and party cadres demolished the day-night agitation shelter of the “Vayal Kilikal” or Paddy Birds, who have been agitating against the widening of the Kuppam-Kuttikol National Highway through the 250-acre paddy fields in Keezhatur, in Taliparamba, the red citadel of the CPM. All the agitating villagers are from the CPM as there is no other party or activism in this red citadel, with no opposition to the CPM. However, the party and the aggressive leaders of it failed to understand the ground realities and went ahead with the demolition of the shed and arresting the agitators including women and children in the party bastion. The CPM district secretary P Jayarajan termed the agitation as false and said that the public fed up with the agitators had destroyed and burnt the shed. The truth was something else, according to the agitating villagers.
The CPM leadership which is heading the left coalition government of Kerala is in a fix following the agitation conducted by a group of villagers to protest against the widening of a national highway which is to come tearing through their paddy fields. The struggle which is already an year old is interestingly in the red bastion of Keezhattoor where all the panchayats are being ruled by the party and there is no other political party in the area even for namesake. This means that the agitators who are in the forefront of action are the CPM cadres themselves and the party has promptly expelled twelve party members from the primary membership of the cadre party. This is not a joke in the red bastion of Payyannur and Taliparamba in Kannur district which is the home district of the Kerala Chief Minister and the CPM politbureau member, Pinarayi Vijayan as well as that of the party state secretary and polibureau member Kodiyeri Balakrishnan. The CPM which has the highest number of party members from this district has the maximum number of party state secretariat members and central committee members. It is in this context that the struggle by party members in a party village is significant and possibly leading to a Singur,Nandigram like situation if the party does not act properly and initiate the damage control exercise.
The party and the state government were adamant that it would take over the 250 acres of paddy fields as part of the Kappam-Kuttikol bypass contruction for the National Highway widening.
The Villagers, mostly youth and women formed “Vayal Kilikal”, a farmers’ collective, and went on hugner strike in September 2016.
The state minister for works G Sudhakaran held a meeting with the Vayal kilikal and assured them that the government would freeze the construction plans through the paddy fields Earlier, the bypass survey alignment was finalised and land acquisition procedures were progressing without any hindrance. But after the Pinarayi government came to power, the Chief Minister convened an all-party meeting at Kannur Collectorate in September 2016 to speed up the construction work. All party leaders agreed upon the alignment of the road and 140 families were directed to shift.
“But officials initiated a new survey in August for new alignment of the bypass and planning to take over the paddy fields to avoid displacement of families. The officials reasoned that with the new alignment, only 40 families will be shifted as it passes through paddy fields,” N Baiju, action council leader of the Vayal Kilikal told Organiser. According to Baiju, 25 families were already shifted to facilitate the original alignment and land acquisition formalities have also been completed. It maty be noted that. Keezhattoor is an agrarian village and paddy fields are its green lung.
Locals suspect that some vested interest people influenced the CPM and the government to change the original alignment of the bypass.
Keezhattoor revolt shocked the CPM leadership as the poor cadres never challenged the party diktat in the past. For them, the party was everything but now they have floated this organisation, Vayal Kilikal which can never be thought of in a CPM bastion as the party would oppose tooth and nail and would even annihilate dissidence and opposition as was seen in the case of RMP leader TP Chandrashekharan who was brutally killed and this may repeat here also, fears the locals.
On September 10, 2016, Suresh Keezhattoor, a CPM worker, started the hunger strike and at least 30 people joined him at the venue. When Suresh was hospitalised after 12 days, 68-year-old Nambradath Janaki, a farm worker joined the hunger strike forcing the CPM to rethink on its earlier decision. It may be noted that Suresh was the branch secretary of the CPM and was the Village secretary of the DYFI, very important positions in the CPM hierarchy.
Meanwhile, BJP state president Kummanam Rajasekharan visited the protest venue and offered support. Sensing trouble, CPM decided to initiate dialogue with the protesters and diffuse the situation to save the party in its stronghold. However the arrogance of the CPM leadership, especially the party Kannur district, secretary P Jayarajan turned the matters out of CPM’s control and the cadres who were expelled from the party infused new blood into the movement leading to the party and the police to take action against the agitators. While the police arrested the agitating villagers, the CPM cadres burnt down the shed where the agitators were protesting and threw the remnants into the nearby stream. The CPM leader Gangadharan who led the party cadres into demolition was termed by Vayal Kilikal as a real estate agent interested in supplying mud and soil for filling of the paddy fields once the National Highway work starts. The striking agitators feel that the CPM leadership has fallen into the hands of real estate mafia and that this is the prime reason why such an agitation for the future generation and for saving 250 acres of paddy fields has fallen into deaf ears. The CPM leaders according to the agitators behave as if they are the agents of real estate mafia.
The agitating leaders while speaking to Organiser said “The CPM leaders seem to be in a fools’ paradise and they are knowingly killing the water sources by turning our paddy fields into plush roads by raising the level of the paddy fields to 11.5 feet high and by filling the fields with mud and soil produced by demolishing the hills for the soil. This is leading a catastrophes. The paddy fields will be destroyed as also hills demolished for soil. This is a huge business, as, according to studies, more than 1.5 lakh load of soil would be required to fill the paddy fields.” n
Not Birds, But Vultures:?CPM
CPM Minister G Sudhakaran’s objectionable statement on the floor of the Legislative Assembly that Vayal Kilikal (Paddy Birds) are not birds, but vultures, has invited the wrath of the agitators as well as the right thinking people. His statement is an insult to the poor farmers. That is why the BJP president Kummanam Rajasekharan said that the CPM is holding double standards: One for Maharasthra and another for Kerala.
The CPM spoke volumes after volumes for the environmental protection and conservation of wet land before they came to power. But, they have gone back on their entire promise after taking over. Keezhattoor is a glaring example for this opportunistic policy. That is why even the Kerala Sasthra Sahithya Parishad, the science wing of the CPM, has come out against the project. Its report has expressed concern about the future of the paddy fields in the area. The report has turned the talk of Keezhattoor, a (CPM) party village.
Meanwhile, the All India Youth Federation (AIYF), the youth wing of the CPI, the second largest alliance partner of the LDF, has extended wholehearted support to Keezhattoor agitation. Their state secretary, after consultations with the CPI state secretary Kanam Rajendran, has stated that he would lead a team to Keezhattoor on Wednesay, March 21. The CPI had already supported the agitation much earlier.
— T Satisan, Kochi
