Kozhikode: The centre’s decision to defer the implementation of the Kasturirangan committee report is an attempt to hoodwink the people in view of the forthcoming Parliament elections, CPM state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan said on Friday.
“It is an eyewash by the central and the state governments,” he said addressing the concluding session of a seminar organised by the party on ‘Migration to Malabar: History and Development at Alakkode in Kannur district.’
He reiterated the party’s opposition to the Kasturirangan report and said that the party will prevent its implementation. The report prepared by a group of technocrats without any inputs from the grassroots had failed to take into account the problems of the ordinary people living in the Western Ghats region, he said.
The seminar organised by the Patyam Gopalan Research Centre is seen as an attempt by the CPM to woo the Christian settlers of Malabar on the eve of Lok Sabha elections.
The seminar was inaugurated by historian K.K.N. Kurup. The presence of A.J. Joseph, a local leader of Kerala Congress (Mani), and Fr. Tommy Edatel, parish priest of Kozhichal, was notable at the seminar.
