Cultural festival organised at Chengara

Staff Reporter, The Hindu

Second anniversary of agitation for land at Chengara

Artistes attached to the Sadhu Jana Vimochana Samyukta Vedi staging a folk dance at a rally organised to mark the second anniversary of the Chengara agitation in Pathanamthitta town on Monday.

PATHANAMTHITTA: The Sadhu Jana Vimochana Samyukta Vedi (SJVSV), supported by various social organisations and Dalit groups, on Monday organised a cultural festival here to mark the second anniversary of the agitation for land at Chengara.

Artistes attached to various Dalit groups staged a cultural procession in the town as a prelude to the festival. The procession included folk art forms such as ‘parichamuttukali,’ ‘kolkali,’ ‘sanghagaanaom,’ etc.

Chengara Land Struggle Samithi convener Kaithakkara Ayyappan inaugurated the festival at the Town Hall. S. Rajeevan, organising committee chairman, presided over the inaugural function.

Anniversary meet

Leader of the Opposition Oommen Chandy will inaugurate the second anniversary meeting at Shine Tower auditorium here at 10 a.m. on Tuesday.

P. Ramabhadran, president, Kerala Dalit Federation, will preside over the meeting.

P.C. George, MLA, C.P. John, Communist Marxist Party State secretary, Geevarghese Mar Koorilos Metropolitan of Jacobite Church, Shibu Baby John, RSP(B) leader, Sreeraman Koyyon, Adivasi Gothra Jana Sabha leader, C.K. Lukose, SUCI State secretary, and vedi president Laha Gopalan will address the meeting.

Writer Sarah Joseph will inaugurate a cultural meeting in the afternoon. Meanwhile, the Joint Trade Union Action Council will stage a dharna at Athambamkulam junction, near Chengara, on Tuesday in protest against the alleged official inaction towards clearing the encroachment of Kumbazha Estate by the SJVSV activists. Action council leader and CITU district president P.J. Ajayakumar alleged that a majority of the encroachers at Chengara were having land and house of their own in different parts of the State.