Farmers of Keezhattur who have been agitating under the aegis of Vayalkilikal against a proposed NH bypass are all set for a collision course with the Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)], with the latter mobilising its workers to set up a ‘pandal’ (temporary structure) at the village for its pro-bypass campaign on March 24 to upstage the agitators who are scheduled to reinstall their ‘samara pandal’ on March 25.
Vayalkilikal activists have planned a march on March 25 from Taliparamba town to Keezhattur and a public meeting in which Congress leader V.M. Sudheeran and environmental activists are scheduled to attend. Their samara pandal was set ablaze by alleged CPI(M) workers on March 14. The CPI(M)’s plan to organise its own campaign and march from Keezhattur to Taliparamba on March 24 is seen as a move to counter the agitation in what the CPI(M) treats as its pocket borough.
“We are organising a function at Keezhattur on Saturday to form the Keezhattur Janakeeya Samrakshana Samiti which will be attended by all the farmers who have consented to give their land for the bypass,” CPI(M) area secretary P. Mukundan told The Hindu .
CPI(M) charge
Stating that the party was not for any confrontation, he said the newly formed samiti would erect a ‘pandal’ away from the paddy fields where the destroyed ‘samara pandal’ located. The pandal was planned for installing party flags and displaying banners, he added.
The CPI(M) district leadership has been opposed to the agitation against the bypass. The party had expelled nine of its members for their involvement in the agitation by the Vayalkilikal.
The CPI(M)’s stand is that there should be no obstacle to the development process. It announced that 56 of the total 60 landowners who would lose their land, including paddy fields, have given their consent to hand over their land. Farmers are assured that adequate compensation would be ensured for their land.
“The CPI(M plan to erect its ‘pandal’ is to ensure their presence in the area and to pressurise those expressing solidarity with our agitation,” said Suresh Keezhattur, leader of the agitation. When contacted, he said that though the samara pandal would be reinstalled, the agitation would take a legal and political course to highlight what he called huge environmental damage the project would cause in the village. “Our agitation should not be reduced to an issue of landowners as it is for saving areas on either side of the paddy fields located in Koovode, Kuttikkol and Keezhattur,” he said.
The agitators admit that in Keezhattur also there are farmers willing to hand over their land for the project. Of the 38 farmers whose land was identified for acquisition, 20 farmers are with the CPI(M) and 18 with the Vayalkilikal. The landowners in Koovode and Kuttikkol villages are not supporting the agitation.
