Thiruvananthapuram, 21 April (HS): Many tribals (Vanvaasis) in Wayanad district from where Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra got elected to the Lok Sabha face the threat of being evicted from their lands where they have been staying for more than six decades.

All tribals in Thalappuzha, the land allotted to them as per the Central Government’s plan to allocate forest land to the Vanvaasis have been served with eviction notices by the all powerful Waqf Board of Kerala. Narayanan, a social activist fighting for the rights of the tribals, said that the nearly 20 persons in Thalappuzha are yet to recover from the shock following the serving of the notices.

The notice asking them to quit the land comes at a time when the Centre got enacted a legislation making the Waqf land accountable to the people of the country. The Waqf Board owns more than 9.4 lakh acres of land across India making it the third largest land owner after the defense and railway ministries. The Indian waqf Board is the world’s largest land owner and the Islamists are inching to the target of forming an Islamic Republic within India.

More than 600 families in Munambam, a coastal village in Ernakulam district have been staging a sit-in demonstration demanding the withdrawal of the claims by the Waqf Board that the land in which they stay belong to the Board and they have been asked to get shifted to some other place.

These developments come at a time when the Muslim League and various Islamic organizations are staging massive rallies across the State demanding the revoking of the Waqf (Amendment) Bill enacted in both Houses of Parliament and got the accent of the President.

The Islamists have approached the Supreme Court challenging the legality and validity of the amended bill and demanding the apex court to junk the law.

The Congress and the CPI(M) the main characters of Kerala politics find themselves on the same side of the political spectrum, extrending massive support to the Islamists.

Hindusthan Samachar / Manohar Yadavatti