Even as the Left Democratic Front (LDF) remains largely silent on it, the protests over the proposed SilverLine project is gradually beginning to gather momentum in the poll narrative of Puthuppally, which heads for a byelection on September 5.
A meeting of the K-Rail agitation council held recently in Kottayam decided to campaign against the Left front by raising the slogan ‘no vote for K-rail supporters.’ The council said the decision was made by taking into account the possibility of interpreting the votes bagged by the Left front as people’s mandate for the K-Rail project.
The council had carried out a similar campaign in Thirkkakara too which witnessed a byelection last year. “Many public meetings were organised in Thrikkakara to discuss the government’s stance, and our members visited houses to campaign against the project. We have decided to adopt this model in Puthuppally too,” said M.P. Baburaj, council chairman.
As part of it, the meeting now formed a five-member committee to coordinate the activities. Apart from house visits, a protest meeting will be held in Kottayam on September 1 as part of completing 500 days of protests at Madappally, a village close to Puthuppally. The location witnessed a massive protest against the project in March last year after the police had launched an indiscriminate assault on those who protested against a survey of land for the proposed project.
Solidifying around just one specific demand – withdraw the SilverLine project – protests have continued at Madappally since without a break till now. Besides the Opposition parties, support poured in from various organisations, including that of the Catholic Church.
Interestingly, the LDF is yet to highlight SilverLine as a key component of its development-oriented election campaign at Puthuppally, but for some random comments by its top leaders.
During a recent visit to Kottayam, LDF convener E.P. Jayarajan had merely commented that the government had not given up the project. Similarly, Minister V.N. Vasavan, who is coordinating the LDF’s election campaign in the Assembly constituency, too had said the State would implement the project on receiving an approval from the Central government.
