The Hindu : `Yatra' a campaign against hartals, says Chandy

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Mar 31, 2003

Southern States

Southern States - Kerala

`Yatra' a campaign against hartals, says Chandy

By Our Staff Reporter

KOCHI MARCH 30. The UDF convener, Oommen Chandy, who is on a `Save Kerala Yatra' along with other UDF leaders, has said the yatra is also a campaign against hartals.

He told a news conference here on Sunday that the `hartal-bandh culture' had stunted Kerala's economic growth and hurt individual freedom. His yatra was aimed at creating a pro-development attitude among the people. People were now tired of the frequent hartals called by the LDF and the violent protests and agitations carried out by the CPI(M). There should be an end to such agitations, he asserted.

However, when presspersons asked if the UDF would come out with an announcement that it would keep off hartals and bandhs in future, Mr. Chandy repeatedly evaded the question. When further pressed, he said the UDF committee would later on ``discuss the issue'' after an assessment of people's views during the yatra. He argued that a consensus among political parties was necessary for a voluntary cap on hartals and that the UDF was ready to open a debate on it.

He said another objective of the yatra was to raise awareness against the American aggression on Iraq.

However, when asked if the UDF would call for a boycott of the U.S. goods as the LDF was likely to do shortly, Mr. Chandy evaded the question.

The Water Resources Minister, T.M. Jacob, who was with Mr. Chandy, quipped that if the LDF had called for a boycott that would suffice.

Mr. Chandy, referring to the CPI(M)'s proposed agitation for land for Adivasis from April 21, said the CPI(M) had no moral right to carry out such an agitation as it had done precious little for their cause when it was in power. He contested the Leader of the Opposition, V.S. Achuthanandan's reported claim that during the LDF rule, some 5,000 hectares of land, 3,000 hectares in Palakkad district alone, had been assigned to landless Adivasis.

This was a gross distortion of truth. For instance, only 524 hectares had been assigned in Palakkad district, but none of the Adivasi families had occupied the assigned land as it was useless.

On the contrary, Mr. Chandy claimed the UDF Government had so far assigned 1,747 acres and that it would keep the promise given to the Adivasis. However, he could not give a break-up of the assigned land. Asked how much land had been assigned in Wayanad district, which has the largest Adivasi population and is the place of origin of the land struggle, Mr. Chandy drew a blank.

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