Paryethukavu eviction row: UDF govt trying to repeat Muthanga incident, says CPM

Kochi: CPM state secretary M V Govindan said that the UDF govt attempted to repeat the 2003 Muthanga incident by evicting the poor from Paryethukavu, Ernakulam.

After visiting families in Paryethukavu on Monday, Govindan said that police carried out a brutal attack here on the third day of the UDF govt coming to power. He added that families in this area will not be allowed to be evicted.

Chief minister V D Satheesan claims that they are ‘the true Left’, Govindan said. “The Left does not attack the poor; it protects them. During the LDF govt’s tenure, there were no such attacks here. Previously, the advocate commission and police came 14 times to evict, but such attacks never occurred. Evicting the poor is not the police’s job. The police are not a tool for aggression. The EMS govt declared this in 1957. The anti-eviction ordinance of 1957 and the agricultural land reform amendment act of 1969 were introduced,” Govindan said.

Govindan said that the party will not allow eviction of the dalit families from Paryethukavu if they are not willing to move out. The govt should provide title deeds to the families here, he said. Govindan also inaugurated the protest meeting organized by Purogamana Kala Sahitya Sangham at Paryethukavu in support of the dalit families.

Meanwhile, the residents of Paryethukavu said that they are not ready to move from the area where they have been living from the period of their forefathers. The dalit families have been living in the area for more than a century, Govindan said.

Local MLA V P Sajeendran said that the land at Paryethukavu is not govt land but a private one. Sajeedran called that the police’s attack on women as an ‘unfortunate incident’. Sajeendran alleged that ‘anti-govt’ media are spreading claims of police misconduct at Paryethukavu.