While tribal women in Attappady have been protesting against the State government move to delink the 663 tribal Kudumbasree units in the region from the National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM) and send mission project officer Seema Bhaskar back to Central government services, the officer on deputation from the Union Ministry of Rural Development has alleged that she was a victim of political vendetta and character assassination moves by vested interests.
Ms. Bhaskar told The Hindu that she was amazed by the way the tribal women had supported her and demanding continuation of welfare schemes launched by the NRLM. The women organised massive protests in front of the Kudumbasree office at Agali on Friday and Saturday disrupting traffic on the Mannarkkad-Coimbatore Highway.
Over 300 of them had visited Thiruvananthapuram last week to meet the Chief Minister and request him to cancel the moves which would destabilise tribal welfare initiatives started five years ago.
“Local politicians and a section of officials have levelled corruption charges against me. A section of media is also involved,” she said.
She said she was planning legal measures, including defamation cases, against those engaged in the smear campaign. “I challenge them to prove the charges against me. If there is truth in the allegations, I am ready to face any disciplinary action,” said Ms. Bhaskar.
It is alleged that the Local Self-Government Department had decided to end her service following pressure from the local units of the CPI(M) and its tribal wing Adivasi Kshema Samithi (AKS).
“They turned against me as the tribal women here had organised protests against the lynching of tribal youth Madhu and against the illegal liquor trade involving an IMFL outlet on the Tamil Nadu side of Anaikatty,” she said.
She refuted the charge that she was promoting communal politics. “They tried to brand me as Maoist. Now they say I am pro-Hindutva. Both are nonsensical,” she said.
The allegations by the CPI(M) and its feeder organisations include inciting tribespeople to wage war against the State government and scuttling tribal welfare schemes of the government, she said.
She is also accused of holding a secret meeting at the Sambarkode tribal colony in March to disrupt a visit of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan to Attappady to review tribal welfare projects. She is also accused of undermining Kurumba tribal cooperative societies by prompting Kudumbasree units to collect minor forest produce, keeping in disrepair a mill to process millet, selling vegetables grown at Attappady in Thrissur without supplying them to the region’s community kitchens, and destabilising local self-governments by diverting funds to neighbourhood groups and village samithis.
“It is ridiculous to say that I incited tribespeople to go on strike against the government,” she said.