Dalits should fight for panchami land: Nallakannu
Madurai: Dalits should fight for their right over the panchami land as they need land for dwelling and livelihood, Communist Party of India leader R. Nallakannu said.
Addressing a demonstration organised by the CPI and the Odukkapattor Vazhvurimai Iyakkam (Movement for right of the oppressed to live) at Melur near here, Mr. Nallakannu said the panchami land all over the country were allotted by the British for the uplift of the Dalits.
“It is their right over the panchami land,” he said. If the Dalits cannot fight for their land, they cannot live. Pointing out that the Dalits remained landless farm labourers, Mr. Nallakannu said that they needed the land for their dwelling and livelihood.
Most of the 3.5 lakh acres of panchami land in Tamil Nadu were encroached upon by non-Dalits, he said, adding that panchami land cannot be sold, bought or encroached upon by others.
“You are not asking for the land of somebody else. You are asking for the land allocated for you,” he told the 200 Dalits, mostly women, protestors. The CPI district secretary, Kalidoss, said the protest was organised to condemn the district administration that had declared taking over of 2,843 acres ofpanchami land in Melur taluk. Stating that government had no right to take over the land, he said it should be distributed among the Dalits, who are mostly landless agricultural labourers, of the taluk.
Source: The Hindu
