THRISSUR: Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s omission of C Achutha Menon’s name while recalling those who were behind the historic Land Reforms Act, has come in for sharp criticism from the CPI. “C Achutha Menon put his signature in the Land Reforms Act that paved the way for the development of the state and it is dignity to give deserving recognition to people who created history.” CPI state secretary Kanam Rajendran said here on Saturday.
Kanam was speaking after inaugurating the golden jubilee celebrations of the Land Reforms Act organised by the CPI district committee. Kanam’s counter to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s omission of Achutha Menon’s name while recognising those behind the Land Reforms Act during its golden jubilee celebration in Thiruvananthapuram, was an advice not to try to hide the sun using an oldwinnow (‘Muram’).
“Achutha Menon led the implementation of Land Reforms Act in its real form. There is no need to share its credit to anyone,” he said.
Kanam also reminded that the then opposition stood against recovering forest land from private parties as a part of land reforms saying it would affect bee-keepers and those who live by selling honey. Kanam made the remarks in the presence of Finance Minister T M Thomas Isaac and Congress leader V M Sudheeran, apart from other CPI leaders in the district. In his presidential address, Agriculture Minister V S Sunil Kumar said the role played by C Achutha Menon-led government in 1970 in implementing the Land Reforms Act in its soul was a historical fact and the state could not go forward burying the truth.
He said that the communist party had fought its way towards implementing the Land Reforms Act and it was not done in a fortnight. “The communist government in 1957 had issued an Ordinance that tenants should not be ousted from the land they occupied. Meanwhile, the state government formed a committee with Achutha Menon as its convenor to draft a bill on Land Reforms. It was in the 1970s that the government framed a proper rule for land reforms and implemented it,” Sunil Kumar said.