The Anti-airport Action Council, which spearheaded the popular movement against the controversial airport project at Aranmula, has started mobilising support for environmentalist and Communist Party of India leader P. Prasad, who is contesting the ensuing Assembly elections from Haripad.
Mr Prasad is crossing swords with Congress strongman and Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala in his maiden electoral battle in Haripad.
“Mr Prasad is known for his concern for the environment,’’ says K.P. Sreeranganathan, nature photographer and environmentalist, who had moved the National Green Tribunal against the Aranmula Airport project.
Solidarity
Mr Sreeranganathan visited Haripad on Monday, extending solidarity with Mr Prasad.
“The people of Aranmula are heavily indebted to Prasad for the active role he had played in protecting the wetlands and paddy land from the land lobby,” say Gopalan and Thankamma, a landless couple who has been staying in their hut at Aranmula Puncha.
“Meanwhile, the villagers of Aranmula are mobilising support for him in cash and kind.
Many who took part in the Aranmula stir are visiting Mr Prasad in Haripad, extending solidarity with him. A few among them are P. Induchoodan, Aranmula Heritage Village Action Council president; Dr Thomas P. Thomas, environmentalist and Botany professor at Kozhencherry St Thomas College. A group from Aranmula have supplied him with dhothies and khadi shirts for daily use.
“We know our comrade’s fight is with a political heavy weight,” Unnikrishnan, a local resident said.
