The Perumatty grama panchayat in Palakkad district which dared to take on Coca-Cola for its excessive groundwater exploitation at Plachimada now looks more like the Theatre of the Absurd. The civil society movement which once vowed to liberate the grama panchayat from ‘exploitation under the guise of industrialisation’ is now a divided house, thanks to the local bodies’ election.
Panchayat president K. Suresh of the Janata Dal (Secular), who recently declared the local body as Kerala’s first agrarian grama panchayat (saying goodbye to all kinds of industrial ventures), is pitted against Plachimada Agitation Committee leader Vilayodi Venugopal (independent) at Kambalathara ward.
The Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have extended their support to Mr. Venugopal.
Interestingly, the Congress and the BJP had once raised objections against both for their joint initiatives against the Cola major.
Once the poster boys of the agitation, they are now fighting against each other and this has polarised the anti-Cola movement of Plachimada and Perumatty.
Mr. Suresh recently launched a mega project to revive paddy cultivation in all barren agricultural and government lands at Perumatty. Mr. Venugopal has good clout over the Dalits and tribes in the backward region.
“It’s a conspiracy hatched by K. Achuthan, MLA, to weaken the movement and to score political mileage. He has ensured a deadly combination of the BJP and the Congress to weaken the movement and deny justice to the Cola victims,” alleges Mr. Suresh.
Talking to The Hindu , Mr. Venugopal said his candidature has nothing to do with the anti-Cola agitation.
‘‘Mr. Suresh represents lumpen elements in politics who believe that might is right. He and his party boss K. Krishnan Kutty have unleashed a reign of terror here for the last several years. It is a fight to rescue the whole area from goonda politics. Life with dignity is my campaign theme,” says Mr. Venugopal, adding he would ensure freedom for all political parties to engage in democratic process at Perumatty, a traditional citadel of the Janata Dal (Secular).
Once the poster boys of the agitation, K. Suresh and Vilayodi Venugopal are now fighting against each other and this has polarised the anti-Cola movement.
