Cultural festival organised at Chengara

Staff Reporter, The Hindu
Second anniversary of agitation for land at Chengara

Artistes attached to the Sadhu Jana Vimochana Samyukta Vedi staging a folk dance at a rally organised to mark the second anniversary of the Chengara agitation in Pathanamthitta town on Monday.

PATHANAMTHITTA: The Sadhu Jana Vimochana Samyukta Vedi (SJVSV), supported by various social organisations and Dalit groups, on Monday organised a cultural festival here to mark the second anniversary of the agitation for land at Chengara.

Artistes attached to various Dalit groups staged a cultural procession in the town as a prelude to the festival. The procession included folk art forms such as ‘parichamuttukali,’ ‘kolkali,’ ‘sanghagaanaom,’ etc.

Chengara Land Struggle Samithi convener Kaithakkara Ayyappan inaugurated the festival at the Town Hall. S. Rajeevan, organising committee chairman, presided over the inaugural function.

Chengara stir enters third year

by Rajeesh Kollakkandi on August 4, 2009

Pictures on 2008.

An artist has left these words on the walls of Chengara…May victory be theirs and Humanity

Kerala: Chengara stir will be spread if not solved, landless tribals’ stir enters third year

A protest by nearly 5,000 tribals demanding land at a rubber estate near here completes two years Tuesday. The group heading the strike has slammed the Left-led Kerala government for not resolving the issue.

The landless tribals have been staying in tents pitched in the Kumbazha rubber estate of Harrisons Malayalam Ltd (HML) in Chengara, about 120 km from Thiruvananthapuram, since Aug 4, 2007 to mark their protest.

Led by the Sadhu Jana Vimocha Samyukta Vedi (SJVSV) headed by Laha Gopalan, the protesters have been demanding land from the government. Gopalan lashed out at the Left government, especially the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M), which he termed as a party that had no regard for the poor.

‘The CPI-M has proved beyond doubt that they have no concern for the downtrodden. Otherwise, would they have allowed this genuine strike to enter the third year. They have let us down very badly,’ said Gopalan.

On the other hand, around 170 families of plantation workers, who have lost their livelihood due to the tribals occupying the estate, are opposing them and staging another protest at the entry point of the estate.