Ayyankali Pada hostage protest

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The Ayyankali Pada hostage protest was an Adivasi rights protest carried out by Maoist group Ayyankali Pada on October 4, 1996. Four members of the group, Vilayodi Sivankutty, Kanhangad Rameshan, Kallara Babu and Ajayan Mannur, took the then Palakkad district collector, WR Reddy, hostage at the District Collectorate in Palakkad, Kerala. [1] [2]

Contents

Background

Ayyankali Pada was formed in 1992 as the youth wing of the new Kerala Communist Party after the dissolution of the Central Reorganisation Committee, Communist Party of India (CRCCPI). The group was named after revolutionary leader Ayyankali. [3]

The activists acted partly in response [3] to an amendment that had passed a week earlier on September 23, 1996 [1] to the Kerala Scheduled Tribes (Restriction on Transfer of Lands and Restoration of Alienated Lands) Act, 1975. The 1975 Act required the state to return alienated lands to Adivasis; [1] [4] however, since 1975 no land had been returned under invocation of the act. The amendment had legalized transfers of Adivasi land between 1960-1984, essentially nullifying the original act. [1]

Protest

The activists held Reddy hostage for 9 hours, after which the negotiating parties reached an agreement of release and the activists revealed that their weapons were fake, [3] [5] although Reddy maintains that they were real. [6] No serious injuries were reported during the protest.

On the day of the protest, the activists demanded the following: [3]

The activists entered the District Collectorate on October 4 after having observed the area for several days beforehand. Armed with explosives and a gun, both later claimed to be fake, they entered Reddy's office and held him hostage. Throughout the day, a crowd gathered outside of the building. [3] After 9 hours the hostage was released and the activists were promised safe passage by the government and not arrested.

Aftermath

Despite the promises of the state, Sivankutty, Rameshan, and Mannur were arrested in later years. Kallara Babu remained in hiding for 14 years. [3]

The Kerala Scheduled Tribes Act, 1975 was repealed three years later upon the passing of The Kerala Restriction on Transfer by and Restoration of Lands to Scheduled Tribes Act, 1999. [7] While the 1999 Act declares all past and future land transfers between Adivasi and non-Adivasi parties illegal, it allows encroachers to keep up to five acres of previously stolen land. [7] The 1999 Act grants only one acre of land to landless Adivasis, whereas the previous Act had granted five. [7]

The 2022 Malayalam-language film Pada is about the incident.

Related Research Articles

Events in the year 1975 in the Republic of India.

Events in the year 1996 in the Republic of India.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Palakkad district</span> District in Kerala, India

Palakkad is one of the 14 districts in the Indian state of Kerala. It was carved out of the southeastern region of the former Malabar District on 1 January 1957. It is located at the central region of Kerala and is the second largest district in the state after Idukki. The city of Palakkad is the district headquarters. Palakkad is bordered on the northwest by the Malappuram district, on the southwest by the Thrissur district, on the northeast by Nilgiris district, and on the east by Coimbatore district of Tamil Nadu. The district is nicknamed "The granary of Kerala". Palakkad is the gateway to Kerala due to the presence of the Palakkad Gap, in the Western Ghats. The 2,383 m high Anginda peak, which is situated in the border of Palakkad district, Nilgiris district, and Malappuram district, in Silent Valley National Park, is the highest point of elevation in Palakkad district. Palakkad city is about 347 kilometres (216 mi) northeast of the state capital, Thiruvananthapuram.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Adivasi</span> Indigenous people of the Indian subcontinent

The Adivasi are a heterogeneous tribal groups across the Indian subcontinent. The term is a Sanskrit word coined in the 1930s by political activists to give the tribal people an indigenous identity by claiming an indigenous origin. The term is also used for ethnic minorities, such as Chakmas of Bangladesh, Bhumiputara Khasas of Nepal, and Vedda of Sri Lanka. The Constitution of India does not use the word Adivasi, instead referring to Scheduled Tribes and Janjati. The government of India does not officially recognise tribes as indigenous people. The country ratified the International Labour Organization (ILO) Convention 107 on Indigenous and Tribal Peoples of the United Nations (1957) and refused to sign the ILO Convention 169. Most of these groups are included in the Scheduled Tribe category under constitutional provisions in India.

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The Jenu Kuruba are a tribal group from the Nilgiris, numbering around 37000. They are concentrated in the districts bordering the states of Kerala and Karnataka. 'Jenu' means 'honey' in Kannada, referring to their traditional occupation as collectors of honey in the forest. In the early 20th century they lived in huts in the forests and cultivated. Starting from the 1970s and continuing today, many of the Jenu Kurubas have been evicted from their homes due to conservation measures in the various tiger reserves of the Nilgiris, like Nagarhole and Bandipur. Those who have been relocated outside the forest are daily wagers and agricultural labourers, who live in extreme poverty. Many work as labourers on coffee estates in Kodagu or for the Forest Department. They speak the Jenu Kurumba language, either classified as being related to Kodava or a rural dialect of Kannada. The tribals have fought multiple times to live in the reserved forests, most recently in 2020, under the terms of the Forest Rights Act. and in 2021 protests have continued against "the forest department as an encroacher, promoting eco-tourism and safaris … [in a way which] … is illegal under Indian and international laws."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Palakkad</span> City in Kerala, India

Palakkad, also known as Palghat, historically known as Palakkattussery, is a city and municipality in the Indian state of Kerala. It is the administrative headquarters of Palakkad District. Palakkad is the most densely populated municipality and the fourth-most densely populated city in the state. It was established before Indian independence under British rule and known by the name Palghat. Palakkad is famous for the ancient Palakkad Fort, which is in the heart of the city and was captured and rebuilt by Hyder Ali in 1766 which later fell into the hands of Zamorin in 1784. The city is about 347 kilometres (216 mi) northeast of the state capital, Thiruvananthapuram.

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Bijoy, CR (29 May 1999). "Adivasis Betrayed: Adivasi Land Rights in Kerala". Economic and Political Weekly. 34 (22): 1329–1335. JSTOR   4408014.
  2. Raman, K. Ravi (9 March 2002). "Breaking New Ground: Adivasi Land Struggle in Kerala". Economic and Political Weekly. 37 (10): 916–919. JSTOR   4411834 . Retrieved 16 December 2023.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Priya, Lakshmi (12 April 2022). "The 4-man army: Meet the Ayyankali Pada activists whose life & politics inspired Pada" . Retrieved 15 December 2023.
  4. "The Kerala Scheduled Tribes (Restriction on Transfer of Lands and Restoration of Alienated Lands) Act, 1975" (PDF). indiacode.nic. Retrieved 15 December 2023.
  5. "Hostage Drama by Ayyankali Pada in 1996: Asianet News Archives Video". Youtube. Asianet News. Retrieved 15 December 2023.
  6. Priya, Lakshmi (6 April 2022). "Ex-IAS officer held hostage by Ayyankalipada speaks on the film Pada and its politics". The News Minute. Retrieved 15 December 2023.
  7. 1 2 3 "The Kerala Restriction on Transfer by and Restoration of Lands to Scheduled Tribes Act, 1999" (PDF). indiacode.nic. Retrieved 15 December 2023.