Kerala govt can solve Munambam land dispute ‘in 10 minutes’, says V.D. Satheesan

Kerala's Opposition Leader V.D. Satheesan criticizes government over Munambam land issue and Waqf Act amendment.

Kerala’s Leader of the Opposition V.D. Satheesan has claimed that the Left Democratic Front (LDF) government and the State Waqf Board can solve the Munambam land issue “in 10 minutes”.

He was addressing the media on Saturday (April 5, 2025) during an event where M.K. Raghavan, Kozhikode MP, launched a day-long fast in protest against the appointment of Shaija Andavan as the Dean of Faculty at the National Institute of Technology-Calicut, at Chathamangalam. Ms. Andavan, a faculty member, is facing a police case for praising Mahatma Gandhi’s assassin Nathuram Godse through a social media post.

Mr. Satheesan said the Waqf (Amendment) Bill was an attempt by the Sangh Parivar to “intrude into the rituals, culture, and social system of a religion.” The effort was to introduce government control on Waqf properties, he said.

Mr. Satheesan claimed that the Munambam land dispute and the amendment to the Waqf Act were not connected. “However, some people with vested interests are trying to link the two issues. All the Muslim organisations and Christian groups in Kerala have demanded that the people of Munambam be given permanent ownership of their land and that they need not be evicted. There is no dispute between political parties and religious organisations over this,” he pointed out.

Mr. Satheesan asked how the Munambam land issue would be resolved by the passage of the Waqf (Amendment) Bill as it would not have retrospective effect. “The BJP is trying to gain political mileage by appeasing Christians. The attempt is to create a conflict between two religions and fish in troubled waters,” he said.

Mr. Satheesan said the party had warned earlier that a “Church Bill” would be introduced after the passage of the Waqf (Amendment) Bill. He claimed that the web portal of Organiser, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) mouthpiece, had carried an article saying that the Catholic Church was the second biggest land owner in the country after the Union government.

“It has been pointed out that the Church had seven crore hectares of land, or 17.29 crore acres. The article said this land had been leased out to it during the British period in an unauthorised manner and that it should be reclaimed. The article was published on the same day the Bill was passed in Parliament,” he added.