The Hindu : Angry fisherfolk may tilt the balance against Congress

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Mar 26, 2004

National

National - Elections 2004

Angry fisherfolk may tilt the balance against Congress

K.P.M. Basheer

THIRUVANATHAPURAM

Kerala's fishing community is angry. Reason: the catch from the Arabian Sea is dwindling by the day. And the BJP-led Central Government's "backdoor" policy of letting highly-sophisticated foreign deep-sea fishing trawlers "plunder" the country's fish wealth, particularly off the Kerala coast, is blamed. As the vocal fishing community has a presence in 13 of the 20 Lok Sabha constituencies in Kerala, the deepening crisis in the fishing sector, fuelled by the U.S. anti-dumping action against Indian shrimp export, will be a major campaign issue in these constituencies.

Again, since fishing is a key economic activity employing lakhs of workers, the issue will have an echo in other constituencies as well. Since both the Congress and the BJP are viewed as responsible for "globalising the Indian seas," the Left Democratic Front is likely to gain.

On February 3, the State's fishing sector went on a "coastal hartal" to protest the Union Agriculture Ministry's "covert" permission to 32 foreign vessels to fish in India's Exclusive Economic Zone. Nineteen unions took part in the hartal. They had sufficient reason to feel outraged: the fishing sector had fought long and hard in the mid-1990s to get the Centre to reverse its 1991 policy to allow foreign fishing companies into Indian waters in collaboration with local firms. The unions claimed that the foreign vessels had been robbing the sources of livelihood of lakhs of fishermen. In 1997, on the recommendations of the P. Murari Committee, the Government shelved the policy, bringing to an end one of the strongest agitations in India's fishing sector.

The `foreign trawler' has become a hot issue again. "The BJP-led Government has reintroduced the 1991 policy through the backdoor," says Charles George, State president of the TUCI-affiliated Kerala Matsyathozhilali Aikyavedi (United Fishworkers' Forum). "The high-tech foreign trawlers are factory vessels having facilities for processing, packaging and freezing the fish at sea." Joseph Xavier Kalappurackal, secretary of the Kerala State Fishing Boat Operators Association, claims that the foreign vessels have enormous capacities; some have 25,000 GRT (gross tonnage) while the average gross tonnage of Kerala trawlers is just 25. "They will deplete the fish resources and throw our fishworkers out of jobs," he says.

Lal Koyiparambil, general convener of the Kerala Fishermen's Forum, says the Centre clandestinely issued licences to 32 foreign vessels in June 2003. It was not discussed in Parliament and none of the stakeholders was consulted. Mr. Kalapurackal alleges that most of these vessels are owned by Indian firms fronting for multinational companies, mainly those based in Dubai. The new vessels were in addition to the 150 that had earlier been licensed. "Together, these trawlers are sifting the sea for fish without leaving anything for the small boat operators and the traditional fishermen," says Mr. George.

The Congressmen blame the BJP policy for the scarcity of fish, while the BJP leaders say it was the Congress that initiated the policy. "It was the Narasimha Rao Government in 1991 that brought in the foreign trawlers," the BJP State president, Sreedharan Pillai, told The Hindu . The Opposition LDF says both these "pro-multinational" parties are responsible. Sebastian Paul, the Ernakulam LDF candidate, says the foreign trawler will be a major campaign for him as the fishing community is a key factor in his constituency.

The fishing sector in Kerala, which has a 590-km shoreline, includes marine and inland fishing as well as the processing and exporting segments. The spread of the fishing community makes it politically relevant. "In 13 of the 20 Lok Sabha constituencies in the State the fishing community can influence the ballot box," claims V. Dinkaran, president of the Dheevara Sabha.

The community has traditionally been pro-Congress and pro-United Democratic Front. It is split along religious lines, and the dictates of its leaders, who are generally pro-UDF, often decide the voting behaviour. Dheevaras, a Hindu fishing caste; Latin Catholic Christians; and Muslims, in that order, are the dominant religious groups. The Dheevara Sabha leadership had largely been pro-Congress. The Latin Catholic bishops have a definite say in Congress politics. (The Ernakulam seat has been `reserved' by the Congress for Latin Catholics. Not to be outdone, the Opposition LDF too has of late reserved it for the Latin community and has preferred a member of this community for the Alappuzha seat this time). Muslim fishermen generally vote for the Muslim League, a key partner of the UDF.

Thanks to the intense campaign by the Hindutva organisations, as part of the strategy to woo the Dheevaras and adivasis, a section of the Dheevara community has now turned pro-BJP. Last year's massacre at Marad beach, in which eight members of the Arya Samajam — a Sangh Parivar outfit of fishermen — lost their lives, could also bring some gains for the BJP. The BJP has fielded two Dheevaras in the elections and one of them is in Manjeri, which includes Marad. The Manjeri candidate, Uma Unni, is a "Marad victim," having lost her house in the carnage. By playing up the Marad issue, the BJP hopes to buck the criticism on the `foreign trawler' count. (The BJP has never won a Lok Sabha or Assembly seat in Kerala.) The LDF, which was very active in the recent anti-foreign-trawler agitation, may gain a few votes.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

National