Yechury visits Dalit attacked by landlord

The centuries-old 'feudal mentality' of landlords, who were trying to encroach upon traditional lands of Dalits would be resisted, CPI(M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury said here today.
Yechury, who visited Sundar Malekudiya, a Dalit whose fingers were chopped off allegedly by a landlord on July 26 at nearby Belthangady, said he had come to express solidarity with Sundar and his family, who were fighting against illegal occupation by landlords.
The tribal bill was passed in Parliament many years ago after many a struggle and it should be ensured that all tribal families got title deeds, he said, adding that the issue would be raised in Parliament as it related to the Tribal Forest Protection Act which, was not being implemented in Karnataka.

Terming the attack on Sundar as a 'serious and inhuman' crime, Yechury demanded that stringent action be taken against the perpetrators and no attempt should be made to dilute the case just because the landlords were influential.
The government should also ensure that medical expenses of Sundar are taken care of and that the accused person and his family should compensate the victim, he said.
Land grabbing by landlords could not be tolerated in modern India and the 'zamindari' system, which had been abolished long back should not be allowed to continue, he said.
Referring to the brutal murder of rationalist scholar M M Kalburgi in Dharwad on Sunday last, he said such crimes had taken place in the country in which national thinkers were targets of attack by extremists.

This came after the murder of rationalist thinker from Maharashtra Narendra Dabholkar in 2013 and indicated that the ruling class in many states was patronising forces like this, he said.