Adivasi Gothra Mahasabha (AGM) leader M. Geethanandan has alleged the local Communist Party of India (Marxist) leadership is inciting communal passions against Adivasis of Aralam.
Speaking at a press conference here on Wednesday, Mr. Geethanandan said that of the 32 Muslim families now living in the erstwhile Aralam Farm, only three families were residing in the farm when the State government had purchased the land for Adivasi rehabilitation. When the LDF came to power in 2006, 26 families illegally occupied the land even as the proposal for a special package for rehabilitation of the 32 families was under consideration, he said. A Democratic Youth Federation of India activist, identified as Naniyath Jaleel, had encroached upon the land and constructed a grocery shop in 2009 and later a shed had been constructed by a woman. Noting that a satyagrah by the AGM was under way, Mr. Geethanandan said a land protection convention would be held at Aralam Farm on February 8.