The tribal people were protesting against the arrest of the chief of Vattuilakki hamlet in Attappady and his son, and allege that there is a land mafia behind it.
"Why the police dared to show such atrocities in our hamlets despite having a system here. What we understand is that the laws for the Dalits and tribals have become of no use with the blessing of those in power," tribal leader Chemmaurthi Sreekantan can be heard speaking in front of the Secretariat in Thiruvananthapuram. Sreekantan, state general secretary of the Vedan Gothramahasabha, an outfit for the tribal people, was taking part in the Nilppu Samaram (standing protest) organised jointly by various tribal outfits in all the districts in the state except the northern Kasaragod and Kozhikode districts. The protest was to register opposition against the arrest of Soriyan, chief of the Vattuilakki hamlet in Attappadi of Palakkad district and his son. The tribal people allege that there is a land mafia behind the arrest and it was the result of a conspiracy by a non-profit organisation and the police. The police on August 8 arrested Mooppan and his 15-year-old son based on a complaint by their neighbour Kurunthachalam in connection with feeding grass to the cow. In the visuals aired by local television channels, it can be seen that the duo were picked up by the police from their house despite protest by others in the hamlet. "It's the government and the system here that backs encroachment on tribal lands. The government hasn't shown any lenience towards the tribal people despite the pandemic situation. It's the approach of the government that has forced us to protest even when we are struggling to make both ends meet in the time of the pandemic crisis," Sreekantan further said. The same accusations have been made in a press statement issued by leaders of tribal organisations including M Geethanandan of the Gothramahasabha, regarding the protest. The press statement accused a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) working in the tribal hamlets to be behind the atrocities against tribals. This NGO, HRDS, the tribal outfits allege is a benami of a trust that has been unauthorisedly working in the Vattulakki hamlet. "The government has become a scare crow by completely giving away the welfare of the tribals to charity organisations. The government should decide that NGOs will be allowed to function in the hamlets as a part of the government's developmental activities and also monitored by the government. This should be applicable for the construction activities as well in the hamlets," the statement read. The tribal outfits term the arrest as part of the racial discrimination against the tribals. “Ever after the Left government came to power (for a second consecutive term in May 2021), the trend has been to encroach into the life of marginalised people; be it the Dalits, the tribals or fish vendors,” Geethanandan said, speaking at the protest in Ernakulam district. He added that a huge movement will be born in the coming days in solidarity with the tribal people in Attappady. “The arrest was the result of a conspiracy of silencing the tribal people,” Kakode Suresh, state president of the Vedan Gothramahasabha told TNM from the protest venue in Thiruvananthapuram. The Opposition Congress-led United Democratic Front in the state alleged that the arrest of Soiryan Moopan and his son was a clear case of police atrocity in Attappady. However, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan backed the police saying that this has been a trend now-a-days to propagate false and cooked-up stories against the force and said that law enforcers had only tried to maintain rule of law. The protest also raised demands like implementing a COVID financial package for tribal people, to implement the Forest Rights Act (FRA)- Scheduled Tribes And Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition Of Forest Rights) Act, 2006, and to stop diverting Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe funds. It also pressed the demand that all tribal students be covered in the online education system, implementation of reservation for economically weaker sections (EWS) and to give up the move to convert Aralam farmland in Kannur, which was meant to rehabilitate the landless tribal people, into a tourism project.
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