Kerala tribal group to support AAP in Lok Sabha polls
Though the tribals were at first decided to boycott the election owing to the government machinery's apathy towards their issues, AAP leaders like Prashant Bhushan and Kerala unit convener Manoj Padmanabhan succeded in bringing them to their fold.
Adivasi Gothra Maha sabha (AGMS), a prominent tribal organisation in the state has decided to support Aam Aadmi Party in Kerala, except in Idukki constituency in the coming Lok Sabha polls. The decision is announced by AGMS president and tribal leader CK Janu on Monday. The tribals votes will be decisive in six constituencies in Kerala namely Wayanad, Palakkad, Kasaragod, Idukki, Ernakulam and Thiruvananthapuram. AAP has 15 candidates contesting in LS polls and has candidates in all these six constituencies.
"We will support AAP in those places where they have fielded their candidates except in Idukki. As we support Kasturirangan panel report, we will offer our support to Congress candidate Dean Kuriakose in that constituency. We have not decided on whom to support in other five constituencies where AAP is not contesting," CK Janu told India Today.
Though the tribals were at first decided to boycott the election owing to the government machinery's apathy towards their issues, AAP leaders like Prashant Bhushan and Kerala unit convener Manoj Padmanabhan succeded in bringing them to their fold. "We have decided to support AAP in Kerala after having a series of discussions with its Kerala unit members and national executive committee member Prashant Bhushan. They expressed their commitment to tribal issues and promised us their full support in raising our issues in national platforms. They told us that they will be with us in our future strikes and protests for our rights," says C K Janu.
Wayanad constituency has the largest share of tribal population in the state and they constitute 16 percent of the total population in the district. The tribals in the district complaint that no mainstream politicians have heeded attention to their demands and grievences. The issues like tribal land distribution and the implementation of forest rights law are not addressed and many tribals are still living in abject poverty.
Though the state government had promised to hand over forest land to landless tribals and central government granted sanction for according ownership rights to around 19,600 acres of land, the state government has not yet acted upon the central government decision. Nearly 10,000 acres of this land is located in Attappady in Palakkad district. Though AGMS has conducted several strikes to get this land distributed among the tribals, their attempts did not yield any result. Meanwhile, several children in the adivasi community died due to malnutrition in Attappady last year.
AGMS believes that AAP could raise their issues in Parliment and would help them to put an end to their miseries at the earliest.