Stir by people of Munambam in Kochi.
Credit: Special Arrangement
Thiruvananthapuram: The 415 days long stir by residents of Munambam coastal village near Kochi against the Kerala Waqf board's claim over their land has split allegedly owing to political interventions.
While a section of agitators ended the stir on Sunday in the wake of the Kerala government allowing the land owners to pay land tax on the basis of a High Court order, another section decided to go ahead with the stir until the Waqf board revokes the decision to include their lands in the Waqf registry.
Dramatic scenes were witnessed as the section that decided to continue with the stir walked out of the function organised on Sunday to call off the stir. While the stir was so far going on at the premises of the local church, the section that decided to go ahead with the stir had set up a new venue in the coastal area.
Both sections accused each other of succumbing to the political interest of the CPM and the BJP.
The action council leaders, who called off the stir, said that they took the decision as the state government assured that their revenue rights on the land would be restored. They also alleged that the section that decided to go ahead with the stir was succumbing to the interest of the BJP.
Action council leaders Father Antony Xavier and Joseph Benny said that they would resume the stir if their rights on the land were not restored.
Kerala law minister P Rajeeve and revenue minister K Rajan were also present at the function organised to call off the stir.
Meanwhile, those who are going ahead with the stir said that the stir was yet to achieve its purpose of removing their lands from the registry of the Waqf board. They alleged that the action council leaders who decided to end the stir were succumbing to the interests of the ruling CPM.
As many as 610 families of Munambam were on a stir over the last 415 days against the Waqf board's claim over their land. The stir attained national attention after Union minority affairs minister Kiren Rijiju highlighted the stir while presenting the Waqf law amendment and also visited the agitators in April. It was widely interpreted as BJP's attempts to make inroads into Christian community as a large section of the affected families were from the Christian community.
The Munambam residents got a relief in October after the Kerala High Court said in an order that the declaration of their land as Waqf was not legal. Last week the HC directed the state government to accept the land tax and many even paid the tax.
However, a decision of the Waqf tribunal on restoring the revenue rights of the people over the land is still pending.