Green politics comes to fore in Kerala

The politics of environment has come into play in at least two constituencies in the Lok Sabha election in Kerala. 

Last year, protests had peaked in the high-range areas of Wayanad and Idukki against the K Kasturirangan panel report on conservation in the Western Ghats. After months of deliberations and draft notifications from the government, the issue is still dubbed as a potential game-changer in the April 10 election.

In Wayanad an independent candidate is taking on mainstream politicians on the plank of Green Politics. Abraham Benhur, a social activist, ethnographer and filmmaker, claims that his candidature in the election is another step toward taking political hypocrisies out of the equations in an issue that involves livelihood of thousands. “Both the Madhav Gadgil and Kasturirangan panel reports have to be discarded. But my candidature is also an effort to call attention to the bigger picture of green politics,” Benhur, who has put together a Harita Sena (Green Army) to increase awareness on environment issues, told Deccan Herald. Benhur has been in the thick of action during various agitations including the struggle for coffee farmers’ rights in the district. As a student, he had also co-founded the Socialist Students Union.

Opposition against the Kasturirangan report has also been marked by reports of vested business interests fuelling the protests. Benhur and his supporters are using the election campaign as an extensive awareness drive on “real issues” that have hit farmers in the region. 

But how relevant is green politics independent of political affiliations in a state like Kerala? Someone has to make a start, reasoned Benhur. “The two rival political fronts have consistently failed the farmers and all that we are discussing is political murders and saris worn by scamsters. It’s the politics of sensationalism and titillation that’s being played out,” he said. 

Benhur is also apprehensive of the longevity of the Aam Aadmi Party that is only “filling a gap” between failed governments and the “disillusioned urban elite”.

Benhur is known in his circles as the green campaigner who comes with a Fidel Castro hang-up, complete with the cap and shirt. “There’s no connection to Castro or any leader. I’ve been dressing up like this for decades,” he said.