KOCHI: Various emotions flicked on the faces of the agitators on the premises of Our Lady of Velankanni Church at Kadappuram as they watched the MPs from different political parties debated the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2025, in Lok Sabha on Wednesday. Hope, disbelief and anger were the most common emotions, as Munambam residents saw and heard the MPs they had elected turn Brutus to their cause.
Seated before the 40-inch TV set up before the shed where for the past 172 days the Munambam residents have been agitating as a last-ditch effort to save their land and property, Joseph Rocky, an agitator says, “To be stabbed in the heart by the very people we had thought would protect and aid us, is an unexplainable pain. Every Munambam resident’s heart is bleeding. Even after the Catholic Church organisations like KCBC and CBCI requested the Kerala MPs to vote for the Bill, their speeches said otherwise.” But he expressed his firm belief that the Bill would be passed.
“Our people’s representatives have shown their true colours. The sweet words that they said before us turned into poison in LS. Do they think that things will be hunky-dory after this? This is the start of Congress’ decline! Congress is done for!!!” says Joseph whose family has been the residents of Munambam from his grandfather’s time.
Speaking to TNIE, Alphonsa Joseph Thayyil says, “I am 73 years old. I was born here. Many of us had bought the land and built our houses after selling our jewellery and savings. We had to see our revenue rights being taken away by some people waving the banner of the Waqf Board in our faces. They want to throw us out of our homes. But we won’t go out without a fight.”
She accused the political parties of only caring for their votes. “They only want our votes but when the time comes to safeguard our rights they are nowhere to be seen,” she adds.
According to Murugan, SNDP Munambam Shaka president, around 70 residents belong to our shaka.
“The people here are hopeful that once the Bill is passed and the clause in the existing Act that validates the word Waqf in the land documents is removed their properties will be saved. However, there still exist some doubts regarding the new Bill. So we plan to continue with the agitation until the Bill becomes law and is implemented by the Central government,” he adds.
He too felt that the MPs from Kerala, especially those from Ernakulam district, had dealt the Munambam residents a raw deal.
“These MPs won riding high on the strength of the strong Christian community in the district. But when the time came for them to stand up for them, they turned their faces away,” he added.
According to Joseph Benny, convenor of the Munambam Bhoomi Samrakshana Samithi, residents are even planning to burn the MPs in effigy.