‘What we saw in Muthanga weren’t cops, but hounds; No apology can erase that brutality’

Kalpetta: Adivasi Gothra Mahasabha leader C K Janu has said that while it is welcome that former Kerala Chief Minister A K Antony has finally acknowledged the Muthanga firing incident, such recognition alone does not resolve the deeper issues. Speaking to Mathrubhumi News, Janu emphasised that the land rights raised by Adivasis during the protest require a political solution, and that an apology for the brutal police violence is not enough.

“Years later, an apology cannot heal the wounds of that cruelty,” she said. “The police beat even small children, smashed heads and assaulted people, including myself, for hours. What we saw in Muthanga that day were not officers, but animals with limbs—like hounds. No apology can erase that brutality.”

Janu welcomed Antony’s admission that the Muthanga operation was a mistake, but insisted that for his regret to be meaningful, it must be accompanied by concrete political action on the land issue. “Adivasis protested in Muthanga for land. Yet, even after all these years, many of those who participated have not received land,” she said.

Although a rehabilitation package was announced following a later sit-in protest and some land was distributed, Janu alleged that many people still have not been shown their allotted plots. “Even when I accompanied them to the village office, officials refused to show the plots,” she added.