Indian Christians hopeful as govt promises to restore land rights

Leaders representing around 600 families, mostly Catholics, are hopeful about concluding their six-month protest to reclaim their lands after a federal minister visited their southern Indian village and promised to seek an early solution. Kiren Rijiju, federal minister for minorities, visited Munambam coastal village of Kerala’s Ernakulam district on Jan. 15 and addressed the people, who have been on a protest since October 2004. “We are very hopeful of ending the protest after the minister promised to find a solution in three weeks,” said Father Antony Xavier, the parish priest of Valankanny Matha Church, which is part of the disputed land. The 610 families, including some Hindus, began the protest almost two years after officials informed them in January 2022 that approximately 400 acres of land in the village, including the land they had purchased decades ago, did not belong to them. The officials informed them that nearly a century ago, the land was designated as waqf, a Muslim dedication for charity. The State Waqf Board has asserted its ownership of the land, and as a result, the families’ land rights have been suspended. Archbishop Joseph Kalathi-parambil of Verapoly archdiocese, based in Ernakulam district, submitted a memo-randum to the federal minister, who called on him at his residence, on April 15.
“I request you to re-establish the revenue rights of the people of Munambam, which is entangled in the waqf issue in a time-bound manner and give specific directives to the various authorities in the lower appropriate departments for resolving the issue,” the prelate appealed in his memorandum. The land issue became complicated because of a federal law governing waqf properties – the Waqf Act of 2013 – that granted excessive power to Waqf Boards, allowing them to designate any property as waqf land based on their own investigations.