The Catholic Church mouthpiece, Deepika Malayalam daily, has strongly criticised the Kerala State Waqf Board for registering the controversial 404 acres of land in Munambam on the Central government’s UMEED portal.
Waqf board
The Catholic Church mouthpiece, Deepika Malayalam daily, has strongly criticised the Kerala State Waqf Board for registering the controversial 404 acres of land in Munambam on the Central government’s UMEED portal.
In an editorial titled “Do Not Cut the Foot of Justice to Fit the Waqf Shoe,” published on Monday, the newspaper sharply criticised both the Waqf Board and the state government over the ongoing Munambam land dispute.
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The newspaper accused the Waqf Board of challenging the 610 families living in Munambam and Kerala’s secular fabric by officially entering their residential lands on the UMEED portal.
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The editorial controversially called for the Waqf boundary markers placed in Munambam to be removed and “thrown into the Arabian Sea”, demanding that the Board’s notification be withdrawn immediately.
“The Waqf boundary stones (kuttikal) in Munambam should be thrown into the Arabian Sea,” the editorial said.
“It is good for everyone to remember the destruction already brought about in this secular country by the Waqf sections that allow the possession of any property they feel is theirs. The Waqf Board’s role in the growth of extreme Hindutva in the country will go down in history,” the editorial said.
“Many people might be fostering Islamophobia. However, it is Islamic extremism that created it and keeps it alive. One of its breeding grounds in India is the Waqf Act and its encroaching amendments. That is what the Board has been using without any sense of guilt. When the Board arrives under the cover of darkness with clauses that are impossible in any secular-democratic legal system in the world, how can the people of Munambam not be afraid?” the editorial further said.
The editorial also reminded state Chief Minister V.D. Satheesan of his vocal stance when he was Leader of the Opposition. At the time, he had publicly claimed that the entire Munambam land dispute was a minor issue and could be “resolved in 10 minutes” once the United Democratic Front (UDF) came to power.
Mocking the political rhetoric, the editorial said the affected families had been left “out in the cold, drenched only by a ‘10-minute promise rain’ while waiting on the shores of secularism for actual justice.”
The editorial drew a comparison with the government’s swift action in cancelling the SilverLine (K-Rail) land acquisition notifications. It questioned why the Chief Minister — who had previously declared that the Munambam land did not belong to the Waqf — could not show similar urgency in intervening against the Waqf Board’s portal registration.
The editorial further questioned whether religion had become an obstacle to justice.
Highlighting the hardships faced by the residents, it said the affected locals would continue their protests on the seashore until justice was secured.
The editorial marks a significant escalation in tensions between the newly formed UDF government led by V.D. Satheesan and the Catholic Church community in Kerala over land rights and minority politics.
The editorial came a day after Kerala State Waqf Board chairman K.S. Hamza reiterated that disputed lands such as those in Munambam were Waqf property and confirmed that they had been registered on the UMEED portal along with other Waqf assets in the state.
The Kerala State Waqf Board had formally registered the controversial 404 acres of land in Munambam on the Central government’s UMEED portal earlier this week.
Meanwhile, Kerala Chief Minister V.D. Satheesan on Monday assured Munambam land dispute victims that they would not be evicted, promising that his government would fight legally to protect their land rights.
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