CPIML stands with the people of Lakshadweep against the all-out attack on the federal rights and distinct cultural heritage of the Union Territory, launched by the administrator Praful Patel.
We demand the withdrawal of the Draft Lakshadweep Development Authority Regulation 2021 (LDAR) — which proposes to give the administrator powers to grab land, remove or relocate islanders from their property, for town planning or any developmental activity.
We also demand withdrawal of the blatantly unconstitutional Prevention of Anti-Social Activities Act (PASA), introduced in January 2021, under which a person can be detained without any public disclosure for a period of up to one year.
We demand withdrawal of the Draft Lakshadweep Animal Preservation Regulation which is a draconian beef ban law, as well as the move to take non-vegetarian food of school lunches: measures that constitute a Sanghi attack the dietary culture of Lakshadweep.
The Draft Panchayat Notification, which disqualifies a person with more than two children from being a member, and curtails the powers of the Panchayat by vesting areas like education, healthcare, fisheries and animal husbandry, all in the central administrator alone.
These legislative measures are accompanied by high-handed attacks on the livelihood of people of the UT: demolition of fisherpeople’s sheds; wholesale dismissal of contract and casual employees; termination of mid-day meal workers and physical education teachers; and closure of 38 Anganwadis.
Praful Patel and the Modi regime are indulging in Islamophobic fake news to justify their crackdown. Their claims that arms and drugs being smuggled from Lakshadweep to Kerala were intercepted by the Indian Navy have been proved false: fact-checking sites have showed that the interception happened 90 nautical miles away from Lakshadweep coasts; and moreover that the intercepted vessels were not bound for Kerala but rather via Pakistan to Sri Lanka.
CPIML stands with the people of Lakshadweep in demanding the recall of Praful Patel as administrator, and the withdrawal of all orders issued or promulgated under his tenure.
Prabhat Kumar
For CPIML Central Committee
