Kodavas want autonomy: CNC chief

Codava National Council (CNC), the apex body of the Kodava tribe (original residents of Kodagu) has intensified their demand for a separate Kodava land having jurisdiction of two taluks Madikeri and Virajpet and parts of Somwarpet.

“We are being socially, economically and politically exterminated systematically by well connected political parties. The names of our villages and our festivals are being wiped off, distorted and forgotten. Our contribution to the country’s armed forces is being deliberately wiped under the mat by the people in power,” Codava National Council (CNC) President N U Nachappa Codava told reporters in Mangaluru on
Thursday.

“We want our own administration on the lines of the hill council in the North East. An autonomous administrative unit. After the abrogation of Article 370 and subsequent rearrangement of Jammu and Kashmir state by the central government, our hopes of getting administrative autonomy has brightened, Nachappa said, adding the CNC will release a charter of 12 demands on the Kodava National Day planned on November 24 in Madikeri.

“The main objective behind the celebrations of the annual Codava National Day programme by CNC is to rejuvenate our geo-political aspirations in the quest for autonomy,” he added.