‘By joining NDA, Janu has let down Adivasis’

Remember the image of the police-tortured face of firebrand Adivasi leader CK Janu after an uprising by landless tribes in Kerala’s Wayanad hills thirteen years ago?

The Muthanga agitation of February 2003 turned the unschooled, bold, angry Adiya woman into an icon among Adivasis fighting for land and forest rights across the country.

Two years prior to that, Janu had led a 48-day stay-in agitation in front of the State Secretariat at Thiruvananthapuram, forcing the then AK Antony dispensation to offer government land to the landless tribespeople. The Muthanga agitation, which led to the death of two in police firing, was to hold the government to its promise of 2001.

Thirteen years on, a much-mellowed and ‘mainstreamed’ Janu has surprised Kerala by accepting the BJP’s invitation to join the National Democratic Alliance. She will be the NDA candidate from Sulthan Bathery constituency in Wayanad district.

“BJP pressed me to join them and stand as their Sulthan Bathery candidate,” Janu told BusinessLine . “I told them I would not contest the election on their symbol; so they suggested I float a new party which could become an NDA partner.”

After consultations with Vellappally Natesan, who three months ago had floated a new party and joined the NDA, Janu on Wednesday set up her own – the Janadhipathya Rashtreeya Sabha. The party would be launched on April 10.

She hopes to morph the Adivasi Gothra Mahasabha, a community organisation of tribespeople, and the Janadhipathya Ooru Vikasana Munnani, a political outfit, into the new party. The AGM and JOVM were co-founded by her with M Geethanandan, her mentor and comrade-in-arms.

However, Geethanandan, who is the coordinator of the AGM (Janu is the chairperson) and secretary of JOVM (Janu is the president) told BusinessLine that the two organisations were opposed to Janu’s joining the NDA. He said the BJP had lured her to gain mileage by using her celebrity status. “Her BJP tie-up will derail the Adivasi movement and eclipse all the good work she has done for the tribal cause,” Geethanandan said.

He recalled that she had long wanted to contest Assembly elections and enjoy the limelight. “For this, she has now abandoned the values of the Adivasi struggle and let down the movement,” he said.

Asked why she accepted the NDA invitation, Janu said bluntly: “Others didn’t offer us a seat.” She also reasoned that the Adivasis, who make up 1 per cent of the Kerala population, now had a political front. The UDF and LDF had not given political space to the Adivasis, she said.

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