Mar Remegiose Inchananiyil, Bishop of the Thamarassery Diocese of the Catholic Church in northern Kerala warned the Central and State Governments on Thursday that “blood will spill” if they tried to implement the proposals of the K Kasturirangan committee report for protecting the Western Ghats.
In a furious speech made during a protest fast against the Central decision for implementing some of the panel recommendations in Kozhikode, the Bishop said, “Yet another Jallianwala Bagh will happen here if any such move is made. This will have to be considered as a warning.”
At the protest fast held by the Western Ghats People’s Protection Council, a new outfit floated in the context of the controversies over the panel proposals, Mar Inchananiyil went to the extent of warning the authorities that a new Maoist organisation could take birth in the Western Ghats region if there was any move to implement the proposals.
“These environmentalists will not be able to do anything to us. We will not stop our battle till we win. The Western Ghats people will continue their struggle till death. Blood will spill here, I must say. We will not allow anyone to protect the environment by breaking the backs of the poor farmers,” the Bishop said.
Thamarassery in Kozhikode district, an area known for the large population of settler farmers, had witnessed intense violence in which a Forest Department office, several Government vehicles and a bar hotel were set on fire during the agitation against the Kasturirangan panel proposals on November 15 and 16 but Bishop Inchananiyil said the Church had no role in it.
Despite the Congress’s declared position that there was nothing in the panel’s proposals that went against the farmers’ interests, MI Shanavas, party MP from Wayanad, extended full support to the Bishop’s stand by saying, “Mar Remegiose is the leader of this movement. We endorse and support whatever position he adopts.”
Ironically, Bishop Inchananiyil had last weekend appealed to the believers to withdraw from the agitation after he met Congress president Sonia Gandhi in Delhi along with Shanavas. He had come under heavy criticism within the Church for taking such a position when it was leading the anti-Kasturirangan proposals struggle across the State.