J.S. Bablu .

“Be honest in your deeds. When the poor people know they can trust you, they will be with you always,” says P.V. Rajagopal, founder and national president of Ekta Parishad, who led the ‘Janadesh’ yatra of 25,000 tribesfolk and Dalits last month from Gwalior to New Delhi to highlight the problems faced by the landless people.

Talking to TheHindu at Seva Mandiram at Ramanattukara in Kozhikode district bordering Malappuram, Mr. Rajagopal said the seeds of the mass agitation were sown a long time ago and the preparations were begun five years back. “We took out a march of 10,000 tribesfolk and Dalits in Gwalior in 2004 and warned the Government that if it did not pay attention to the problem of the landless, a massive march of 25,000 would be held to Delhi. Detailed discussions were held with the Prime Minister, Planning Commission vice-chairman and others on the issue in 2005,” he said.

A native of Thillakkeri, near Mattannur in Kannur district, Mr. Rajagopal went to Wardha to learn agricultural engineering in 1965 at the age of 22. He was initiated into Gandhian philosophy by his father, Chattukkutty Nambiar, a freedom fighter, and his guru, Radhakrishna Menon, who set up the Seva Mandiram in Ramanattukara. He worked for long years among tribals and Dalits in North India fighting for their land issues.

“I completed my agricultural engineering course in 1969, the birth centenary of Gandhi. To mark the centenary, a train journey exhibiting the various phases of the Mahatma’s life was organised. I enrolled as a volunteer and my job was to explain the exhibits to the visiting public. Some of them wanted to know what I had done for the people. This triggered me into action and with a couple of my friends, I started a Gandhian Ashram in the Chambal forests of Madhya Pradesh to reform dacoits.

Mr. Rajagopal recalls the scene on April 14, 1972, when 560 dacoits surrendered before him at the Ashram. BBC Radio had broadcast the surrender news with commentaries all through the day.

He also spent five to eight years looking after the welfare of the jailed dacoits (the dacoits had surrendered on the condition that they would not be hanged, but put in jail) and their families, including the education of their children.

Mr. Rajagopal started Ekta Parishad, a Gandhian organisation, in 1991. “Hitherto, Gandhian organisations had been confined to campuses of institutions and did not reach the people. So I thought of a new organisation. Basically, I was against imposing modern health and education system on tribespeople.”

Mr. Rajagopal says bonded labour is still an issue in the country. He was Supreme Court (SC) Commissioner on bonded labour for 10 years from 1983.

Based on his report, the court had ordered the release of nearly 12,000 bonded labourers in different parts of the country.

Mr. Rajagopal said “political immaturity” was to blame for the so-called problems of terrorism and naxalism in the country. What was being described as terrorism in Kashmir and the North East was not terrorism, but separatism. “The youth in Kashmir and the North East are taking up arms. The Government should talk to them instead of taking up arms against them.

Mr. Rajagopal, who is also the vice-president of Gandhi Peace Foundation, said today’s development model of promoting industry over agriculture would not do any good for the country. He said Ekta Parishad was planning to take up issues in Kerala, including the tribal land issue in Attapady, the proposal to hand over 3,000 acres of land for mining in Kasaragod and similar causes.

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