Antony’s ‘despair’ over Sivagiri and Muthanga police action resurrects past controversies that bedevilled previous UDF governments

Former Chief Minister and Congress veteran A.K. Antony’s public expression of “despair” over the “distressing but legally inescapable” circumstances that led to the police action in Sivagiri Madhom in 1995, and the lethal use of force against landless Adivasis who encroached upon forestland in Muthanga under his watch in 2003 has, arguably, threatened to resurrect past controversies that rocked previous United Democratic Front (UDF) governments.

The ruling front appeared gleeful that Mr. Antony had “reopened old wounds” in an election year. Notably, Law Minister P Rajeeve quipped in the Assembly on Thursday that Mr. Antony’s admissions had “swung open the door” for the LDF to publicly put the Congress on trial over its “human rights violations and questionable law and order” track record.

AICC general secretary K.C. Venugopal reiterated that Mr. Antony’s “setting the record straight” conversation in the face of LDf attack in the Assembly was healthy and not damaging.

Madhom divided

Meanwhile, the Sivagiri Madhom leadership appeared divided over whether the police action at the spiritual centre established by social reformer Sree Narayana Guru was morally justifiable.

Madhom president Swami Satchidananda said belligerent resistance from incumbents against the attempt of the newly elected committee to assume office in the turbulent year rendered police intervention inevitable.

In contrast, Madhom general secretary Swami Shubhangananda accused Mr. Antony of rejecting more restrained options, including appealing the High Court “single-bench order” enforcing the transfer of power. “The wounds inflicted on the inner-self of the Sree Narayana community will neither heal nor be forgotten,” he added.

K. Gopinathan, the SNDP Yogam’s general secretary in 1995, claimed that the Justice Balakrishnan Nambiar Commission, which probed the police action, recorded profound scepticism about the Antony government’s dedication to settle the issue amicably.

He said his appeals to Mr. Antony to consider a more measured approach to resolve the highly emotive Sivagiri issue proved futile. “Mr. Antony unleashed the police on Sivagiri remotely coccooned in Delhi,” he added.

Muthanga issue

Meanwhile, C.K. Janu and M.Geethanandan, who spearheaded the Muthanga campaign, alleged that the Antony government had used an “inconsequential letter” written by a middle-ranking officer in the Union Forest Ministry to authorise the lethal police action, which resulted in the death of an Adivasi and a police officer.

“The then Forest Minister K. Sudhakaran and the then KPCC president K. Muraleedharan played second fiddle,” Mr Geethanandan added.

Mr. Antony stated that he was loath to broach the subject any further. “A running commentary on a settled matter is not my style”, he added.