Thiruvananthapuram: Rubber politics in Kerala is all set to hot up following the decision of Kerala Congress (M) leader Jose K. Mani to launch an indefinite hunger strike from January 18 in front of the Gandhi statue in Kottayam town demanding pro-active steps to save rubber cultivators owing to the crash in prices of the commodity.
The hunger strike will be the first major campaign of the Mr. Jose K. Mani, who is into his second term as Member of Parliament.
The hunger strike is being staged as part of the Kerala Congress (M) strategy to retain its initiative in Central Travancore politics, which is almost synonymous to the rubber growing tracts in the State.
The party has its base mainly among the rubber growers, who are now facing a crisis owing to the unprecedented fall in the prices of natural rubber.
Mr. Mani was instrumental in formulating a rubber subsidy scheme, for which he earmarked Rs.300 crore in his budget for procurement of 20,000 tonnes of rubber.
Rubber import
The party has been demanding a total ban on rubber imports or at least higher duty rates that will discourage imports. Besides this, the party has demanded a hefty subsidy of Rs.500 crore to be met either from the natural disaster fund or the price stabilisation fund.
With the Assembly election just about three months away, the Kerala Congress (M) hopes that Mr. Jose’s hunger strike will energise the party workers and help it overcome the setback it had to face following Mr. Mani’s resignation.
The Congress party also did not leave any stone unturned in taking up the problems faced by the rubber growers since the party too has a support base among them. The rubber issue figured prominently in the memorandum that the State government submitted during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s whistle stop tour last month.
As far as Mr. Jose is concerned, it pushed him into the forefront of political campaign, after having preferred to remain in the shadows of his famous father. Senior party leaders reportedly goaded him to take up a frontline position.
KC(M) leader Jose K. Mani will go on hunger strike to highlight rubber farmers’ problems
