A.K. Antony, a respected Congress veteran and former Chief Minister, recently voiced his ‘despair’ regarding the controversial police interventions at Sivagiri Madhom in 1995 and against landless Adivasis in Muthanga in 2003. These public remarks have reopened old wounds, bringing contentious incidents from previous United Democratic Front (UDF) administrations back into the political discourse.
The current ruling coalition has seized upon Antony’s statements with evident satisfaction, especially in an election year. Law Minister P. Rajeeve pointed out in the Assembly that Antony’s admissions offered a prime opportunity for the LDF to challenge the Congress on its history of alleged human rights violations and its approach to law and order.
However, AICC general secretary K.C. Venugopal defended Antony, asserting that his ‘setting the record straight’ amidst the LDF’s criticism in the Assembly was a healthy and constructive dialogue, not detrimental to the party.
Sivagiri Madhom: A Community Divided
The leadership of Sivagiri Madhom, the revered spiritual center founded by social reformer Sree Narayana Guru, remains deeply divided over the moral justification of the 1995 police intervention.
Swami Satchidananda, the Madhom president, argued that the confrontational resistance from the then-incumbent members against the newly elected committee in that turbulent year made police involvement unavoidable.
Conversely, Madhom general secretary Swami Shubhangananda criticized Antony, alleging that he bypassed more measured alternatives, such as appealing the High Court’s ‘single-bench order’ that mandated the power transfer. Swami Shubhangananda emotionally stated that ‘the profound wounds inflicted upon the Sree Narayana community will neither heal nor fade with time.’
K. Gopinathan, who served as the SNDP Union’s general secretary in 1995, recalled that the Justice Balakrishnan Nambiar Commission, tasked with investigating the police action, expressed significant doubts about the Antony administration’s commitment to resolving the matter peacefully.
Gopinathan recounted his failed attempts to persuade Antony to adopt a more measured strategy for the highly sensitive Sivagiri issue, adding that ‘Antony orchestrated the police action on Sivagiri from the distant comfort of Delhi.’
The Muthanga Incident
Regarding the Muthanga incident, C.K. Janu and M. Geethanandan, key figures in the Adivasi campaign, accused the Antony government of leveraging an ‘insignificant letter’ from a mid-level Union Forest Ministry official to justify a deadly police operation. This tragic event led to the deaths of both an Adivasi protester and a police officer.
Geethanandan further claimed that then-Forest Minister K. Sudhakaran and then-KPCC president K. Muraleedharan were merely subservient figures in the decision-making process.
For his part, Antony stated his reluctance to discuss the matter further, remarking, ‘Providing a continuous commentary on an issue that has been resolved is not my way.’