314-day-long struggle for land succeeds; 50 cent each offered to tribal families in Nilambur

Nilambur: A fight that lasted for 314 long days without budging finally bore fruits. She had to survive on water alone for around 300 days during her fight for tribal land. However, Bindu Vailassery is now content and happy over the hard-earned victory of the tribal land struggle. 

Bindu has fought many times before also for the members of her community. She began this struggle on May 10, last in front of the Nilambur Integrated Tribal Development Programme (ITDP) Office, demanding that tribals be given the land that belongs to them. 

The strike finally yielded results on Monday night with Malappuram district collector V R Vinod holding a discussion with Bindu, following which an agreement promising 50 cents of land to each family was signed between him and the protesters.

An agreement could have been reached within a month of the strike, Bindu said, adding that the CPM did everything in its capacity to ensure that the strike fails. The strike began with a demand of 1 acre of land to each tribal family. At the beginning, over 170 families stood with Bindu for the cause. However, many of the families were persuaded to leave by the party later, she added.

In the initial discussions with the Collector, an offer of 40 cents of land to each family was given which was accepted by some and retreated from the struggle. When the struggle ended, only 60 families remained with the leader. Bindu alleged that the ITDP officials also did not make any efforts to resolve their issues.

Bindu also claimed that the initial allotment of 40 cents of land to some, and the title deed distribution among 500 people in Nilambur by the State government are also the result of their strike. The tribals would go to work from the strike ground and would bring back their wages here. Rice and jackfruit provided by the locals helped satiate the hunger of the protesters. 

Though the BJP had offered support initially, they were quick to withdraw the same, Bindu alleged. With the entry of Grow Vasu into the strike, the Congress also came forward supporting and stood with the protesters like the Youth Congress and the Youth League till the end, Bindu said. The Welfare Party stood with them till the end and even participated in the talks on the 314th day. 

Bindu also spoke of how she was deeply hurt by MLA P V Anwar's public insult. Anwar had said that Bindu was leading the strike on behalf of Aryadan Shaukat and MLA P K Basheer. Taking strong exception to these remarks, Bindu had carried out a no-food-no-water strike for four days.

In 2008, Bindu went on a hunger strike in front of the Secretariat building in Thiruvananthapuram demanding implementation of the Central Government’s Tribal Forest Rights Act. In 2019, she staged a strike in front of the Malappuram Collectorate, demanding special appointment of tribals in the government service. 

Bindu is next raising a demand for a comprehensive education policy for tribals.