Landless tribals fight for recognition

KALPETTA: Landless tribals and dalits who attained the status of a political movement in 2003 when the Adivasi Gothra Maha Sabha encroached into the Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary, have failed to make any headway in electoral politics despite some scattered attempts.

In fact, the issue of landless families is still unresolved in Wayanad as more than 6,000 tribal families are still landless in Wayanad, as per the documents of the Wayanad district administration.

Though CK Janu, leader of the Adivasi Gothra Maha Sabha, had tested her luck in poll battle as the Rashtreeya Maha Sabha (RMS) candidate in Idukky in the 2004 Parliament election and later in Mananathavadi constituency, her home turf, to the state legislature, both proved to be a fiasco.

After the RMS, the tribal movement has launched a new experiment with its recently launched ‘Ooru Vikasana Munnani’ (Tribal-settlement Development Front).

Ooruvikasana Munnani leader CK Janu said that the fledgling organization was yet to decide upon its strategy in the election to the state legislature. “Our organisation is a new one and is yet to spread its organisational network at the  grassroots,” she added.

But a section in the organization has demanded that it was time the tribal organization explored possibilities to field candidates at least in some constituencies in Palakkad and Idukky.

Leader of the Ooru Vikasana Samithy M Geethanandan told DC that discussions were still on and a final decision was yet to be taken on the strategy to be adopted in the election.

The bad news is that the tribal movement has thinned into a namesake presence in Wayanad where it originated. In the post-Muthanga era, through meticulous intervention, the CPM-led Adivasi Kshema Samithy has emerged as the strongest organization of adivasis hijacking the agitation of tribals from AGMS.

Adivasi Bhoosamara Samithy convener CK Saseendran who is also the CPM Wayanad district secretary told DC that the lack of confidence among tribals in AGMS proved a booster for AKS. “A majority of the tribals, even those who participated in the land-grabbing agitation at Muthanga, later joined the AKS”, he added.