KULATHUPUZHA/KOLLAM: “Son, what will happen once the new legislation is enforced? Will we lose our money?” asks 91-year-old Anchala. The stream of queries about her Sri Lankan origin and Indian citizenship makes her eyes sparkle and bring an enigmatic smile on her wrinkled face.
Anchala belongs to one of the first batches of Tamil repatriates from Sri Lanka who came to Kulathupuzha in the late 1970s. The Rehabilitation Plantation Estate at Kulathupuzha near Thenmala in Kollam hosts more than 750 families and has a population of nearly 7,000. Even as the country is on the boil over the Citizenship Amendment Act, as per which migrants from Sri Lanka are not eligible for citizenship, many repatriates from Lanka are still in the dark about the new legislation. Struggling to make a living, the matter of citizenship seems to be one of the least worries. However, they don’t hide their plight.
“We have no facilities here, no land, no proper job. I make hardly Rs 4,000 per month, with which I need to look after an entire family. The panchayat offers little support. You really think people are bothered about citizenship, voter card or Aadhaar?” asks 33-year-old Manikandan, a second generation youth, whose parents, 77-year-old Subramanian and 76-year-old Lakshmi, migrated to India in 1982. “Our four children who were born in Sri Lanka have been included in the family card. But the two who were born here were left out. They got no benefits from the government,” says Lakshmi.
No caste certificates
Obtaining caste certificates for the younger generation is another major hurdle they have been facing for the past four decades.They feel citizenship documents, if any, should address issues related to their caste, place of residence and access to basic facilities. “Don’t we wish for good education and jobs for our kids? For that, we need caste certificates and government support. Most of our caste names like ‘Muthuraja’, ‘Padayachi’ or ‘Gounder’ do not figure in caste certificates here. Hence, even though we belong to OBC sub-castes, there’s no mention of OBC in our caste certificates. We could’ve used it for education and employment purposes for our children,” says Rajeswaran, speaking on behalf of a group of people in , Mahendran, Bala Subramanian, Devi, Sumathi and Jayakumari -- who were part of the group of repatriates who migrated to India in 1982. Of them, Bala Subramanian, Devi and Sumathi are from Ayiranalloor estate.
Brief history
In the 1970s, the expats were rehabilitated in two plantations at Ayiranalloor and Kulathupuzha estates. With plantation workers’ unions taking up their cause with successive state governments, many of them have got ration cards, voter identity cards and Aadhaar. However, having regular jobs still remains a distant dream, as the names of the younger generation have not been included in their parents’ passports. In a way, this could pose a major issue for them in the backdrop of the Citizenship Amendment Act.
‘No need to worry’
The officials said the repatriates here need not worry. Most of the repatriates from Sri Lanka have become Indian citizens, said K Karthikeyan, former MD of Rehabilitation Plantation. “Originally, there were about 700 families who came to India from Sri Lanka in the 1970s and 80s. As per the 1964 Sirimavo-Sastri pact (signed by then prime ministers Sirimavo Bandaranaike and Lal Bahadur Shastri), it was decided that they would be given citizenship. By the end of 1980s, a major chunk of them did get citizenship too,” he said.